A Trifecta of Terrible Troubles
by RavensAngst
Summary: Oh, the world is so complex when you’re stuck on an island, stuck in an alternate dimension, and stuck at home all alone… fairly RobRae, and perhaps other pairings! !COMPLETE!
1. Some Titans and a Big Gun

_Hey all! I'm so sorry that this took SO long for me to do. It's just been a weird few months, BUT as before, I am COMPLETELY finished already! (Whoo hoo!) So I will be updating quickly with each chapter. Most likely every other day. Please feel free to comment, but unless a suggestion is VERY good, I'm not planning on changing everything.  
Well, without further ado, 'A Trifecta of Terrible Troubles' : three stories within a story, by me (of course). Though I do not claim to be the author of the 'Teen Titans' that honor unfortunately goes to others(hello, blatant disclaimer!). Once again, there is Action, Drama, Romance, Angst, and some other really neat stuff, (and even you Rob/Rae haters should still enjoy this.)  
Love to all! -you may now commence with the reading...  
-Rave-_

* * *

**_Some Titans and a Really Big Gun_**

Robin grappled his way up the side of the rocky cliff while Raven levitated just above him, Beast Boy, as a hawk, flew next to her, and Starfire cut through the air carrying Cyborg like a giant feather. As they reached the apex, they gaped in awe at the massive chunk of metal staring them straight in the face.

The Titans had been tipped off that Professor Chang was about to strike again. So now here they were in the space on which his laboratory had been, but all that remained was scattered wreckage and a newly rebuilt ray gun. It seemed to have acquired some new pieces since they had last seen it, some of which were now glowing a bright blue. But they weren't as concerned with its new appearance as the pure fact that it was even rebuilt in the first place.

There didn't seem to be anyone around, but appearances can be deceiving as they soon found out. A loud whirring sound emanated from the machine as the barrel shifted toward them. The sound gathered intensity and a red light shifted up and down the horizontal piece as the structure heated. A "zap!" rang out as the gun jumped backward from the sheer force of energy it had used to fire. The Titans dove to each side to avoid the blast that had obviously been meant to hit them.

Robin was the first to recover and assess the damage that the blast had caused. To his surprise there _was_ no damage. '_What? That shouldn't be!_' He looked once more and noticed that just behind their former location, ten feet off the edge of the cliff and hanging in the air was a ball of black light about two yards in diameter. He noticed that not only was it emanating black light, it was rotating while emitting sparks.

"Oops! Missed," Professor Chang called out playfully, "I meant to do _this_…" the machine whirred again as it turned to aim at Cyborg and Beast Boy who had chosen to dive to the right of the machine.

"Man, not again!" Cyborg shrieked as he dodged back to the left just before another surge of black light breezed past his metal shoulder.

Chang raised his fist to yell at the Titans once more, "Mwahahaha! You can run, but you can't hide! My own special blend of singularity will just suck you right in!"

"No way dude!" Beast Boy retorted sticking his balled fists on his hips and puffing out his chest. Thinking twice, he changed his stance and instead stuck his hand in front of his mouth and leaned to the side asking, "Um, guys? What's a singularity?"

"It is a small hole of blackness!" Starfire skiddishly replied floating above the ground with her hand covering her mouth.

"A WHAT?" Beast Boy questioned anxiously.

"A black hole," Raven interjected dryly, correcting Starfire's interpretation.

Starfire spoke again already forming green balls of light in her hands, "We must stop the madman or everything will be destroyed!"

Robin called out, "Titans GO!" as he dove toward Professor Chang's perch, flinging a birdarang at the controls. This only succeeded in knocking the demented doctor's arm to the side causing the gun to whip rapidly to the left and down. It shot out another dark orb that landed dangerously close to where Robin had been standing.

Now all of the Titans -except Starfire who was hovering above the gun- were grouped together amidst the three still menacing spheres. They could feel the heavy gravitational pull and were fighting like mad to escape it -Beast Boy especially. He hurriedly morphed from animal to animal trying to access the one form that would aid his efforts the most. He was a lion, then an elephant, then an emu, then a cheetah, and more, but not one form could assist him enough to escape fully. It would have been some sight to see if they weren't paying more attention to fighting so hard for their lives.

Robin deliberated quickly, '_If we can some how plug it up before he spits out another singularity, maybe it will implode on itself_.' This _sounded_ like a good plan so he yelled out for assistance, "Raven…could you create an energy shield strong enough to keep the next blast in?"

"I can try," she said flatly, though her face showed just a hint of panic. As she chanted her familiar words, a sinister light grew behind her. She lifted it with her mind and used it to cover the barrel of the gun.

Luckily for them, Professor Chang was too busy resituating himself to notice. "This should finish you imbecilic kids off!" He pulled back a lever increasing the power and magnitude of his next blow. He then punched in a sequence of buttons and readied himself, fingers interlaced behind his head, leaning back to observe the impending destruction.

Raven concentrated all of her mind's power and inner strength on enclosing the black shroud over the barrel and therefore snuffing the singularity. The odds of her magic working overall, were in her favor and she was fairly certain of success, so it came as a complete surprise when she found herself being driven backward by her own defense screen. She soon found that she was not the only one who had been caught off guard; all three boys flew through the air beside her.

Raven grasped the dead space in front of her desperately trying to cling to any object in order to keep herself from being sucked in to the swirling darkness. She finally caught hold of something just as her leg disappeared. To her disappointment it proved to be the opposite of steadfast. The last thing she saw before she entered the abyss was a wad of black and yellow fabric clutched in her hand.

* * *

Starfire, who was still floating above the large machine, screamed in terror and flew hurriedly to her companions' aid. She grabbed the remainder of a green arm and tugged with all of her might. Before she could gain any ground, she had to relinquish her hold for fear that she too would be drawn into the unyielding gravitational pull. She had to use the remainder of her strength just to escape it.

The shock of seeing her teammates dissipate into blackness, now weighed heavily on Starfire's mind and her thoughts quickly turned from fear to retribution. She roared with rage as her energy turned to flames of green in her palms. The burning light not only manifested in her hands but also her eyes. It made her look as if she were possessed. Her resolve never faltered as the flames grew and began to encompass her body. She let out a final furious cry as the light expanded and shot forth from her being, engulfing the gun in light and dismantling it piece by exploding piece.

Once Starfire had finished demolishing the weapon that had annihilated her friends, she turned her rage to the man who operated it. She darted forward landing inches from Professor Chang. She clutched the tubes extruding from his suit (almost crushing them and cutting off his life support) and hoisted him into the air. "What have you done to my friends?" she growled making sure he could detect the fury in her voice, "Where did you send them?"

"I didn't send them anywhere," the demented doctor shot back trying hard to look as innocent as possible.

"LIAR!" she roared, her eyes glowing such a shade of green that the yellow could almost be seen separated from the intense blue. "You have done something to them! Now you must tell me what so that I may fix it!"

"Most likely they were crushed to death in a black oblivion," he stated with a flippant air. He shrugged his shoulders for added effect still trying to look totally innocent.

She menacingly drew him toward her so that his face was only inches from hers, "If you do not reverse this effect I will throw _you_ in to the crushing blackness as well!" She punctuated her threat by floating over and dangling him above one of the spheres.

"I can't!" he yelped, finally revealing how scared he truly was, "There is no 'antidote'! It's a freaking singularity!" She released her hold on one of his air pipes making him drop ever closer to the darkness. Fear rang through every bone in his body and he had to speak quickly to quiet the mad thoughts streaming through his head, "The b-b-best you can hope for is that the singularities gained such instability t-to tear apart the fabric of time and space. They _might_ be in an alternate dimension…"

"If this is true tell me where to find them!" Starfire demanded.

Chang looked ever more worried, "Even if that _were_ the case, there's no way I could track them!" He cringed, imagining what would happen when she heard this.

At this point Starfire was only holding on to him with her thumb and middle finger. Her lip quivered with hatred as she threatened to let go. He pleaded for his life with every ounce of sanity he had left, "Please don't kill me! That's all I know. I swear! Please don't kill me! Please! PLEASE!"

Starfire glared at him and let out a low growl before releasing her last fingers from their grip on the doctor. He screamed in high-pitched horror as he fell. He braced himself for any impact that might occur and expelled all of the air from his lungs as he felt his body lurch downward. All of a sudden…he felt weightless. He wondered if this was what death was like. He tentatively opened one eye, then the other and readied himself for never-ending darkness. What he saw made him sigh with welcome relief. Starfire had stopped his deadly plummet mere feet above the opening. She yanked him upward with all of her might, and dragged him away from the singularities. She glared at him once more and threw him to the ground beside her, before dropping to her knees, legs splayed to the side. She let herself sob in mourning for her friends, knowing full well that she may never see them again.

But, before becoming_too_ engrossed in her sob-fest, she pulled herself up and walked over to Professor Chang. Staring down at him from above, she spoke to him as if he barely mattered in the grand scheme of things (as she should), "You are a bad man. You do not deserve any goodness that comes to pass in your miserable life." With that she bent down and punched him in the face. After weeping once more, she wiped away her tears, picked Chang up off of the ground, and flew him to jail.

* * *

_Now, please don't forget to review and tell me what you think. Did you like it? Did you hate it? (But PLEASE no flames, you can be nice, I know you can!)_

_Though I do not profess to be great, I do not profess to suck either -'me'_


	2. Splitsville

_Hey! Thank you all so much for reviewing my first chapter! I do so appreciate it!  
__And thank you all SO SO MUCH to whomever reviewed my last story, "**Passion's Intensity**". I'm so happy that it was so well received (even after all of the wonkyness)!  
_

_Big Thank Yous to: **evilsangle, cutter-with-a-cause, SpolkaSpots, Cherry Jade, Evilevergreen(missed you too), Scott Okragleski, **and** Laughing Ranna, **and a special thanks to **DarienRavier **(thank you so much for all of your input!)  
__**cyberclock: **well, even if your joke "sucked" (get it? hehehe), I still laughed! Thank you.  
__**solitaire parker: **your review in particular gave me happy-good feelings. Thank you. I try my hardest to stay as true to the characters as I can. I hope that shows later on.  
--__You ALL deserve huge cookies for being my first reviewers, But maybe for something special, how about cake and punch! –My treat! (hehehe)_

_---So, more coolness in this chapter I hope. And to those of you saying that I didn't do enough with Cy and BB in the last story, this one should not dissapoint!_

_Disclaimer: Just because you Titan's writers own the characters, doesn't mean that I can't toy with them in my own mind! Haha! A loophole!_

_

* * *

**Splitsville**_

Beast Boy and Cyborg smacked into the ground with a loud thud (and a clang for Cyborg of course). Cyborg recovered first and stood up, dusting off his frame and quickly popping out any dents he had incurred from the fall. He held out his hand to Beast Boy and helped him to his feet, "B, you all right?"

"Dude! Of _course_ I'm not all right!" Beast Boy wailed, also dusting himself off, "I just got sucked into a black hole and spit out onto this gosh forsaken pile of dirt and I think I may have broken my toe!" He sobbed as he began hopping up and down on his right foot as he grabbed his left to examine it.

Cyborg rolled his eyes in disbelief. '_B's priorities can be so messed up._' "Man, shut up about your stupid toe! We _should_have been crushed into a never-ending oblivion, so I think that's the least of your worries. What we should be worrying about is: where are we?"

They then took the time to actually survey their surroundings. Beast Boy was right. It did seem like all there was anywhere was dirt. There wasn't even any other color _but_ brown, anywhere his eye could see, but Cyborg didn't feel like giving up yet. -When you have a chance to cheat death, you learn to use it to your advantage- He turned to Beast Boy and grabbed him roughly by the sleeve making him drop his "mangled" foot, "Let's go B."

"To where?" he asked flinging his head every which way to highlight his point.

Cyborg rolled his eyes again, "Anywhere, but here. Let's go."

"You expect me to walk with my toe broken like this?" Beast Boy complained pointing to his foot once more for emphasis.

In response Cyborg moved his grip to the back of Beast Boy's uniform and attempted to leave, dragging him along behind. "Okay! Okay!" Beast Boy conceded, "Just give me a minute!"

Cyborg propped Beast Boy back up on his feet and crossed his arms, thoroughly expecting Beast Boy to drop to the ground and cling for dear life. Instead, he morphed into a camel and motioned Cyborg to hop on his back. '_Okaaaay, well at least he can be cool sometimes._' With that he hopped on Beast Boy's back and they headed off into the "wild _brown_ yonder."

* * *

"Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!" Raven and Robin screamed in unison as they dropped through the air and plunged into the depths of the ocean. They struggled desperately to claw their way out and once they surfaced, they treaded water in an attempt to remain afloat. Neither wanted to waste breath talking until they could rest firmly on the ground.

Robin peered desperately over the unceasing azure. He tried in vain to wipe from his eyes the saltwater that blurred his vision. Just before he surrendered to the endless sway of the ocean, he spotted a fuzzy blotch of gray in the distance. He motioned for Raven to follow him and started to swim like mad.

Raven couldn't see anything, but she trusted that her leader knew what he was doing. She had at first tried to use her powers to lift them both from the water, but failed at any attempt to produce the desired effect. '_I must be salt- waterlogged. Gotta add that to my "powers not useful when" list,'_ she thought dryly. So she started to swim in the direction in which Robin had indicated. Wherever they were headed, she knew that they would need to conserve energy in order to get there so she paced herself. A few minutes later she caught sight of the spit of land Robin had directed them to. From what she could figure, it was at least another mile or two before they would reach it. She could also tell that Robin was exerting too much energy way too quickly. She yelled his name repeatedly as she bobbed up and down to get his attention, but her words hung dead in the heavy air. She continued on in hopes of catching up to him. Though at the rate she was going that would be a difficult task.

She inched toward the expanse at an unbearably slow pace. It was almost too much for her that she couldn't use her powers to aide them both, so she tried once more to make something happen, but once again she failed. She was about to give up, but knew she could not leave Robin alone. '_Besides he'd come back for me anyway and probably drown himself in the process,' _so she struggled on. Finally after what seemed like hours they were both within a few hundred yards of land. Raven had assumed correctly and Robin's energy was ebbing at an alarming rate. She soon caught up with him -as she had hoped, but not in the _way_ she had hoped, and grabbed his cape, dragging him with her to the beach.

As she touched the dry sand she celebrated excitedly, but only in her head because she was using her last bit of strength to heave Robin ashore. She checked to make sure he was still alive before she fell to the earth, exhausted.

* * *

They were headed due west according to Cyborg's internal compass and it didn't take them long at all to find other signs of life. As it turned out, all they had to do was crest one large hill and civilization awaited them. It was a sight for their sore eyes, but it wasn't a _good_ sight really. They had come upon a metropolitan city, but there wasn't much "city" in the city. It was fairly empty. The atmosphere had a ruddy tint and the vegetation was sparse at best. There were no people that they could see; upon further examination they found that there were no cars around either and every building looked well worn in, if not almost fully demolished. Really, it seemed as if there were no signs of life at all. "Wonderful," Cyborg sighed, his shoulders drooping, "We're gonna have to keep on going cause it doesn't look like we're gonna find anything here."

Beast Boy morphed back into his normal green form and started to shrink away from the city, "Dude, this is way creepy… I don't think we should be here!" He started to run when Cyborg grabbed the back of his shirt lifting him off the ground, leaving Beast Boy to flail about with spinning legs.

"Quiet! I think I heard something," Cyborg stated motioning "shh" with the index finger of his right hand. He set Beast Boy down hard on the ground in order to lift his left hand to his ear to listen more closely.

"Uh, Cy? I didn't hear anything. Are you sure you don't just have some screw loose or something?" Suddenly catching what he'd just said and finding it immensely amusing, Beast Boy doubled over with laughter. "Hahaha, screw loose! Hahaha…ahh." He smacked his knee several times and wiped a tear from his eye before rising. He shut his mouth and stood stolid as he caught a good look at Cyborg's unflinching face. A bloodcurdling scream suddenly rang out from an alley two blocks away. "Okay, I heard _that_!"

They ran at lightning speed to assist the endangered woman to whom the scream was attached. Cyborg shifted his armor to a battle equipped design, laser arm at the ready. Beast Boy morphed into a lion, claws out punching tiny holes into the earth. They turned the corner to see a young blonde woman, with her back pressed against the brick of a building and her arms above her head, cowering before a tall, black, faceless, knife-wielding cloak. She shrieked shrilly once more as the knife gleamed in the light of a streetlamp, prompting Beast Boy and Cyborg to lunge forward.

Before they could reach the girl however, a red-orange streak dropped from the sky. As it fell, it kicked the knife from the hand of whatever was clutching it and gave two quick jabs to its "face". The "streak" used its feet to push off of the brick wall behind it and forcefully dove forward, knocking the cloak to the ground. It then sat on top of the mass, knees on either side punching into its assumed gut over and over and over.

Cyborg could tell now that "the streak" was a girl, no…a woman, kicking this things ass and he started to cheer her on. Beast Boy shifted back into his "normal" self and stood with his hand on his head also gawking at the site. He elbowed Cyborg and mouthed "Dude!" as he motioned toward her. After she finished relegating her barrage of punches, she grasped whatever collar the thing had and pulled it toward her. She looked like she was about to say something to it, but instead forcefully threw herself forward and head-butted it, sending it sprawling completely unconscious.

After anesthetizing it to her satisfaction, she stood and brushed herself off. She then whipped out a small communication device and barked commands into it before offering her hand to the still cringing young woman. The woman quickly thanked her with a nod and ran off, brushing past Cyborg without one word.

The woman who had given the ass whooping barely looked up, but acknowledged the two boys with a wave of two of her fingers. They gathered themselves and walked toward her. Cyborg took mental notes of her clothing before he could even see her face. She was wearing tight red pleather pants that sat low on her hips and were tied at the front with a black string. They came to rest over two pointed shiny black combat boots. Above her waist, she wore a small red corset laced in front with the same black satin string. It showed off her toned muscles and abs and accented whatever she was blessed with up top. She was fidgeting with the cloaked villain and he could see her abundant red hair draping over her face. It was long enough to almost come to rest on the ground as she bent, but not quite. He saw also that she seemed off color, like she got a lot of sun, but not quite a "tan".

As they came closer she addressed them, "Could you two help me lug this guy back to the wraith chamber? There are three more that got out and I need to catch them before they hurt someone else," she turned toward them and in doing so, whipped her hair back over her shoulder to reveal her face. Cyborg was the first to notice, but soon Beast Boy also stood, frozen in shock. A pair of cat-like green eyes peered back at them and an eyebrow rose as she saw their expressions.

"Starfire?" came the mumbled utterance from both boys. Both of their jaws dropped and all they could do was stare in disbelief.

As usual, Beast Boy was the first to continue speaking, "Star where did you get that outfit! Have I made you watch Elektra too many times or something? And how did you learn to head-butt like that! That was so _COOL_!"

Cyborg was next, "Star!" he stepped forward to give her a big hug, "I'm so glad to see you girl! I was worried we would never see you or the others ever again!"

He was expecting her to be happy to see them too, so he was completely shocked when she yelled at him, "Let go of me!" She used her arms to break free of his grip and readied herself in a battle stance before she asked, "Who the hell are you? And how do you know my name?"

* * *

_Oooooo, much plot to be revealed! Next update soon!_

_Once again, I love hearing from you all! Each and every "alert" makes my day!_

_Please review!_

_'Though I do not profess to be great, I do not profess to suck either' –me_


	3. Tag, You're It!

_Hey again! Told you this would have some quick updates! I was really trying to get this on LAST night, but I've had a LONG LONG day at work (an 11-7am then a 3-11 right after!) But, it's all for a good cause! I'm going to New York this weekend! So, I will TRY to update once more after this before heading out so that I don't leave y'all in a lurch._

_Thank you again for reviewing, not as many this time so, how about some popcorn and m&m's (an AWESOME combination) for you all: **Cherry Jade, **and **Savvy (**love you chica!), and again, to **Darien Ravier!**  
__**Scott Okragleski:** Thanks for your support. And "pleather" is a plastic leather. I bet if you can envision 'Elektra' and her outfit you'll understand.  
__**cyberclock: **I didn't know Star Trek did an "alternate selves" alternate universe (cause I just haven't watched the show), but that's cool though! Awesome that you found a comparison. I really only have BB and Cy in an "alternate selves" universe in this one however. I figured I could get three different takes if I left the others alone (wink wink).  
__**Evilevergreen:** I always love to see your reviews. Thank you for the support as well. This chapter doesn't really answer any questions I left in the LAST chapter(those won't even come until the chapter after next…hehehe, yes, I'm evil too), but it should be entertaining nonetheless. _

_For those of you wondering "Whatever happened to Star?" this chapter should be most informative!  
__Read on and enjoy!_

_Disclaimer: Don't own TT, never will…but I can dream can't I! I mean, don't crush my dream! It's mine! And I'm keeping it tucked under my pillow. :)

* * *

****__Tag, You're It!_

Starfire flew through the tower searching every corner just in case the other Titans were there. Just in case this was some cruel trick. Just in case this was a dream. Just in case…

This was her third go round. She checked once every two hours. She could not shake the idea that _maybe_ they were still there. She'd already searched every square inch of the cliff on which the incident had happened. She had even thrown things randomly into the black orbs to see if they would somehow fly out the other side. She figured that maybe if she could track where they went, she could find her friends. But she had no luck and as it turned out she had even thrown her communicator in by accident and so could not be contacted by her friends anyway unless she was in the tower so that is where she remained for the time being.

On her fourth go round she noticed that it was midnight. She wasn't very tired, but realized that she would require some sleep in order to continue her search for her friends the next day. So she changed into her pj's and crawled into her bed. She had turned out all of the lights except for her "my little pony nightlight" which for some inexplicable reason Star loved. Robin had bought it for her from a place that sold such trinkets, because Star had lit up when she'd seen it and he found that it was very hard to say no to that cute expectant face.

Starfire had never found it hard to sleep before. She always felt comfortable and secure in the fact that her friends –especially Robin– were there to keep her safe. Her secure feeling had faded quickly after she realized that even _she_ could no longer keep her _friends_ safe. Her thoughts raced through hundreds of different scenarios in which they could be. She tried to shove the bad ones from her head, but only succeeded in attracting more. On top of that, every creak of the tower and every howl of the wind was magnified to its highest degree. Star didn't even remember ever hearing any of those noises before at all, much less this loudly.

She pulled the covers up over her nose and curled into a ball. Hearing another loud creak made Starfire squeeze her eyes closed and huddle further under the covers. She trembled in wait for the next creak or wail and finally let herself relax a bit when it didn't come. She even allowed herself to drift into a shallow sleep, when _bang!_ a window slammed shut, making her eyes pop open. "That is _enough_! I cannot take this. I was not made to be alone," she declared rising from her bed.

She floated down to the main computer and searched around for the "on" button, '_I should have asked Robin to teach me how to use this electronic device. Now I must remember my observations_.' She finally found the button that made the machine whir with life and celebrated by clapping her hands twice before stopping herself. '_I should not be celebrating while my friends may still be in danger._'

She searched the desktop and found what she needed. She clicked and hoped. A ring sounded, then another, and another. '_Oh, I should not have thought to disturb them. It is very late._ _They are most likely all asleep. I should not allow any more botherance on their part!' _

She was about to click the symbol again to hang up when the monitor flicked to life. A very sleepy Speedy was on the other side yawning openly and scratching his head through his mussed up hair. He yawned once more and said, "Titans. This is Speedy. What's up?" before even looking at the screen. "Oh, Starfire!" his eyes got wide as he finally noticed her. He began to fix his hair as he spoke again, "Far be it from me to question a call from a beautiful girl, but…Why _are_ you calling right now? It's the middle of the night."

Starfire couldn't contain her emotions. She started wailing and everything shot out at once, "My friends! My friends have been sucked into a vortex of blackness and I cannot find them. I am afraid they are dead and there is nothing that I can do and I am all alone. I cannot be alone. I do not know what to do. I am very afraid. Please! I need your help."

Speedy's eyes popped open further and he started to wave his hands, crossing them back and forth, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hang on a minute! Slow down! _What_ happened to the other Titans?"

Starfire started again, but this time she took a deep breath before she spoke, "My friends disappeared into modified black holes. I am the only one who was saved because of my ability to fly and the great strength that I possess. I would have gladly given up these gifts if I could bring them back, but I cannot find them," She placed her head in her hands, "and now I am alone."

Speedy let out a heavy breath, "Uhhmm, well…I guess you could come stay here," he thought about that a bit more, "No. You'd want to keep looking for the others and you couldn't leave the city alone…" Starfire nodded at him, "So, I guess we could come _there_."

Starfire shook her head no, "I cannot allow you to leave _your_ city in peril either."

"But we can't just leave you alone! I know! _One_ of us will come stay with you and help you out. That way neither of us will be left without fighters," Speedy concluded.

Starfire raised her head and clapped her hands together once more, "I am most overjoyed by that plan! But whom will you send to stay with me?" At this utterance Starfire saw two little round roly-poly boys dressed in white, pop onto the screen.

"¡Iremos y permaneceremos con el Starfire encantador!" Mas y Menos jumped up and down waving their hands in the air, "¡La protegeremos con nuestras vidas!" they finished, saluting.

Starfire giggled, but Speedy shook his head, "We can't spare both of you. Even though I do believe that you _would_ protect her with your lives."

Mas y Menos both dropped their heads in despair, "Oh, ahora nunca cortejaremos a muchacha bonita." They plodded back to their rooms dragging their feet every step of the way.

"Maybe someday guys," Speedy shrugged. Then he became pensive once more, "Hmm…Bumble Bee needs to stay here too -she is our leader after all, and Aqualad is off visiting his 'fishy friends', so that just leaves…ME!" His eyes became very wide at this realization and he looked to either side of himself just to make sure he really _was_ the only one left. '_Man, what the heck am I gonna do being around her? –Wait what am I talking about. I'll just be a nice guy and help her out. Say yes. Say yes. It's your duty anyway! Say YES!_' "Well, I need to ask Bee first, just in case, but I wouldn't mind staying with you," he tried to justify this by saying, "especially since you really _do_ need the help."  
"Thank you mister Speedy. I will be very grateful for any help that you can provide," Starfire replied hopefully.

"No problem. I'll be right back, and Star? Drop the 'mister' okay?" After she nodded, he left to wake up Bumble Bee and check everything through with her before heading out to Jump City.

He boarded their T-ship, the one that Cyborg had made for them when he was their "leader". Speedy still remembered back when Cyborg had first come to their tower and how good it had felt to finally have everyone working together as a team. He had wished back then that Cyborg would continue to stay with them, but deep down he knew that Cyborg's heart belonged with the other Titans. He also knew that Bumble Bee would take his place as their new leader. What was weird was that even though he and Robin were alike and he had contemplated leading, he knew that he wouldn't do as good a job as leader that Bee would, besides, he didn't want the pressure so it was easy for him to step aside and listen to her commands.

Now, her command was that he should go and stay with Starfire until her whole mess was sorted out. They needed the other Titans, to " keep the balance of power" as it were. Besides, Titans East wouldn't even _be_ a team without them so he figured he owed it to them.

* * *

Starfire turned off the computer and flew to the garage waiting anxiously for Speedy to appear. Even though he had told her he was taking their T-ship and that he would be there in a matter of minutes, the minutes seemed like hours. When he finally arrived, Starfire assisted him in parking the ship and as soon as that was settled, he jumped out of the cockpit. "Hello, friend!" she greeted warmly throwing out her arms for a hug.

Once she finally let go, Speedy stepped back, gasped for air, and stuck out his hand, "Hi. It occurred to me on the way over here that we have never _officially_ met. I'm Speedy."

"Oh! I am Starfire of Tamaran," she bowed, "and of course I know who you are. We _have_ greeted each other before."

"Yes, but now we can get to know each other better," Speedy said, finally recovering from the rib-crushing hug, "From what you've explained, I'm gonna be here awhile. It's late and I think we both should get some sleep." He grabbed his duffle-bag from the ship and looked around, "So uh, I'm guessing I'm not gonna sleep here…so where should I bunk?"

Starfire considered his query, '_He will need somewhere to stay. That is true. He could stay in one of the extra rooms, but none of them are furnished at the moment, nor do they have any bedding ready for him. I am not happy about it, but I am guessing he must stay in one of my friends' rooms._'

She took so long in her figuring that Speedy chimed in once more, "Well, I _could_ stay here…I guess. Or I could just take the couch."

"No! You are a guest. And you are my friend also. You will have a room to yourself." '_But which room?' _She thought._ 'Friend Raven's room is too scary, Beast Boy's room too cluttered, and Cyborg's room is not outfitted to service a full human, so he must stay…_' She motioned to him, "Please mister Speedy follow me."

Speedy nodded in a sort of laughing disbelief, "Sure, but remember what I said about that 'mister' stuff? It just makes me feel old and decrepit."

"Sorry, …Speedy," she voiced as she turned the corner. She directed him to a room in the middle of the fourth floor just two doors down from her own, "You shall stay in Robin's room."

* * *

_For those of you who didn't **quite** get the gist of what Mas y Menos were saying in this chapter, I shall explain…They said something along the lines of: "We shall go and stay with the beautiful Starfire!" –"We will protect her with our lives!" –and—"OH! Now we will never be able to court the pretty girl…"_

_(Hope that helps)_

_So…anyway, Review Please! I know you can. See that little button down there? Click on it…no no, not that one…the other one. Nope, not that one either…oh fripple! I give up on you all! (...hehehe)_


	4. When Did THIS Happen?

_Oh my gosh! I am SO sorry y'all! I SO did not mean to leave you hanging I swear! Please don't hurt me! (ducks the thrown shoes) I so wanted to get another chapter out before I left for New York, but my internet just bombed the night before and I've just been so tired from the awesomeness of that trip! (I fricken LOVE NY!) So, anyway, without further ado, I shall get on with it!_

_Big Hugemungous THANK YOU'S to all who reviewed including: **DarkWindingRose **(love the name btw), **cutter-with-a-cause, Cherry Jade, **and **cyberclock.  
**__**Savvy: **Girl! Thank you for reviewing once again! I know it's hard for you to find good "comp" time. Thank you for saying that I have a good grasp on the characters. I really do try hard to pay attention to who they are on the show and work with that. I don't like to see them out of character. I hope that even in THIS chapter, they will stay in character. And yeah, I THOUGHT about putting Mas y Menos with Star, but I just KNEW that no one in Titans East would ever let them go alone. And I know you love Rob/Star –who doesn't?- but I just wanted to do a little bit of something else. You know me, I always like to shake things up. So, I guess you'll see. ;)  
__**Evilevergreen: **don't worry about being "slow" to catch the summary. It makes me feel awesome that you just started to read one of my stories anyway despite whatever it would be about! Yeah, Bee and Speedy would be great, but I think you'll like what I did with this story. It should be interesting, sort of a 3 stories in one type deal. Enjoy!  
__**Lintilla:** Hey! Always nice to hear from someone new. So, um I have Star calling Speedy, "Mr. Speedy", because for some reason, I think that that would be one of her quirks. I can't explain why. shrug anyway…I'm glad you liked it! Please continue to read!_

_--And you are welcome everyone! I'm so glad that my interpretations helped. There is one more chapter in which they talk so I shall interpret there too. But NOT this one! This one is dedicated to the Island dwellers. You shall see what I mean if you continue reading…which you better! (hehehe)_

_Disclaimer: Blah de blah de blech! …we all know what this is about. Let's just get to the story shall we?

* * *

_

**_When Did THIS Happen?_**

Robin felt heated sand beneath his fingers and groggily opened his eyes, "Where am I?" He looked up and saw palm trees, coconuts, and other island vegetation. "Ooh, this must be a dream, but I don't remember ever having one this vivid before." He rose to his knees and looked around once more. Behind and to the right of him, lay a dark blue bump. Once he realized what it was, everything came flooding back into his head, "This isn't a dream. Oh, no! Raven!" He quickly crawled to her and rolled her over onto her back, "Raven!" he shook her, "Raven!"

She cringed and brought an arm up to cover her eyes from the blinding light, "Robin?" she questioned only half seeing his face. She sat up and turned away from the blistering heat, "What the heck is going on?"

Robin shook his head, "I have no idea. All I know is that we were dropped out of the sky after fighting with Chang and ended up here."

Finally having time to think over the situation, Raven turned her head to him and raised an eyebrow, "But Robin, those were singularities. We should be dead. Why would we be here? And where are the others?"

He put his hand out to place it on her shoulder, but changed his mind and pulled it back allowing his fingers to curl into his palm, "This must be a side effect of that "special blend" stuff that Chang mentioned. Maybe somehow something shifted and we got sent here. At least we're still alive," he said hopefully, "and as for the others, they were sucked into a different singularity so they hopefully –most likely- ended up somewhere else." '_And not sent to a crushing oblivion, which I know is what we're both thinking._'

He stood up and held his hand out to her, "Well I guess we should take a look around and find some shelter or something."

Raven glared up at him, "I'm going to get us out of here right now." She crossed her legs in the sand and breathed in deeply while joining her middle fingers with her thumbs. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos," she chanted, fully expecting to levitate before casting her spell. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos," she chanted again still feeling the grains of sand pressing into her calves. She was becoming aggravated by this and tried once more, concentrating exceedingly hard on levitating this time, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" She opened one eye and saw that she was still firmly on the ground. "It's not working! I've dried completely since the last time I tried using my powers and yet I still can't make them work!" She stood angrily and stomped off inland looking thoroughly frustrated.

"Raven!" Robin ran after her. "Raven!" he yelled once more grasping her arm and turning her around. "It's okay. We'll do our best at finding somewhere safe to stay for now and you can try again later."

"No, Robin. Trying again isn't going to do any good," she hung her head in despair, "I was afraid to admit this, but my powers are gone."

Robin smiled at her to calm her down, "Raven you've lost your powers before and they've come back. I'm sure it's just the stress of the situation that's causing this to happen."

Raven exhaled the breath she had been holding, "No. They're not coming back. When we dropped through that black hole we ended up in an alternate dimension and my powers just don't work here."

Robin ran his hands down over his face slowly, "So…there really _is_ nothing we can do but try to make the best of this."

"Hopefully the others will be able to figure something out, or maybe a plan will present itself, but yes." They looked each other in the eye and she spoke again, "So, I guess now we check this place out?" She started to walk away, but Robin didn't join her. Instead he keeled over and placed his hands on his knees and laughed maddeningly. "What the heck is so funny?" Raven asked thoroughly confused.

"It's just that…there is nothing that either of us can do," he stood straight once more and wiped a tear from his eye, "which I guess is really not that funny, but there is one ironic upside..."

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

He stared straight at her trying to suppress a smile, "At least you can show how you _feel_ about it."

Raven's body shook from the startling realization she experienced. '_I **can** show emotion! This is not going to be good._' In defense she put on an emotionless face, flipped up her hood, and started to walk off once more, "At the moment, I'm less than thrilled. Let's go."

Robin stopped her before she got too far, "Raven, hold on…" he whipped out a "Swiss Army" type knife and stuck it into a nearby tree, marking it with a big "R" then a "1".

"What's that for?" Raven asked genuinely wondering.

"This place may be bigger than it appears and we don't want to be going in circles. If I mark some trees, it will be easier for us not to get lost," he said explaining his deductive reasoning, "Plus this will help me secure a visual map of this place in my mind."

Raven shrugged, "Fine, just don't mark every _single_ one. I would really like to make _some_ progress here."

Robin responded by sheathing his blade and trudging ahead of her. He marked a tree about every 1500 feet and after an hour or so had marked 20. They knew by then that they were on an island, as on this first go round they tried to stay as close to the shore as possible.

After walking the entire circumference, they came upon R1 and both stopped to rest. Robin wiped off his blade. After marking 52 trees it had garnered a few layers of debris. Raven lay back in the sand, "I know it's almost sundown and I was hoping it would have cooled off by now, but it is still _very_ hot here."

Robin copied her, putting his hands behind his head and crossing one leg over his bent knee, "Oh, I hear ya. I know we need to find somewhere to stay, but I don't think I can do anymore searching dressed like this."

She turned her head to him, "What do you propose?"

He sat up and whipped out his knife again, this time flipping to a different blade, "We need to update our wardrobes. -If you'll promise to not turn around, I'll be right back." He got up and ambled inland.

Raven heard some ripping noises and her eyes widened, '_What is he doing?_' A few moments later she saw an arm hanging over her shoulder. It was dangling the blade in front of her, but what she didn't see was the glove that normally covered that hand. It looked unusually naked to her. When she turned around to take the knife, she saw an even more unusual sight. Robin was standing before her with bare feet, arms, and mostly bare legs. He had cut his leggings off at mid thigh; he had also torn off his sleeves at the seams, and had taken off his cape revealing a deep open V on his chest. She looked closer and noticed that he was also bare _faced_. Raven held an intake of breath and tried with every muscle in her body to stop herself from smiling and letting out the loud, "Daaaamn!" that was welling up inside her lungs. He had gorgeous, almost ice blue eyes that contrasted greatly with the stark ebony of his hair.

Robin held his hands out to the side, one of which was holding his shoes, gloves and other discarded clothing in his now neatly bundled cape, "So, how do I look? Not exactly what I would've picked to lounge about a beach in, but I don't think I did too bad with what I had to work with. Do you?"

In truth, Raven couldn't say what she was _actually_ thinking: '_You look good. Damn good. It especially shows off the fact that you work out **every**day. And my gosh, you really need to not wear that mask more often!_' but she caught herself, '_Raven. You should not be thinking like this. He is your leader and further more, he is in love or at least infatuated with Starfire. He has no interest in you and you should have no interest in him…even though every bone in your body wants to… No! No! NO! Stop it!_' So what finally came out was a deadpanned, "You look fine. Thoroughly ready for this kind of heat, but what's up with the mask?"

Robin felt his face on instinct even though he had only just taken it off, "Oh, right. The sweat was getting in my eyes and it was becoming hard to even see anything," He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand several times before continuing, "Besides, it's just you and me and you've pretty much seen everything I'm trying to hide behind anyway."

Her mind snapped to attention at this, and she felt her cheeks flush. She was almost flattered by the specific way he had said that. So much so, that she couldn't think of anything else to say. "Well okay then. I guess it's my turn," she finally grabbed the knife from his hand and walked off inland.

Now, it was Robin's time to look away. He listened intently as Raven echoed the ripping sounds he had made minutes earlier. Only, compared to him, she sounded like an overachiever. "You were right. This is _much_ better," he heard as she approached him from behind and dropped the folded knife in his lap.

He swiveled around and looked up. Like him, she had removed her boots, her sleeves, and her cape, but unlike him she had cut into her leotard leaving the skin which encircled her abdomen, about an inch above and below her bellybutton, bare. She had ripped her cape into several pieces, one of which was wrapped around her hips creating a short, wispy, half-skirt. Robin's head tipped to the side of its own accord and all breath escaped him. With her cape enshrouding her, she always looked so closed off, so secretive –even with the hood down. Now, Raven looked very normal. Very open. With her hand on her hip, her stance accentuated every curve that she possessed. '_Wow! I've never really noticed how beautiful she actually is before. Her legs seem longer than I remember, but she is still very proportionate._' He scanned her frame and rested his eyes on her face, '_How could I have missed how her eyes just pull you into them, and how enticing her lips… Whoa, whoa, whoa. Robin what the hell are you doing? For months now you've set your sights on Starfire. She likes you already. You know this. You remember how beautiful **she** is right? How her hair just shines in the bright sunlight? Raven has almost never seen the sun, much less utilizes it like Star. Yeah, that's right…remember how beautiful **her** eyes are, how…_' At that moment, Raven's hair fell over one eye and she half-smiled before brushing it aside. '_Ooookaaay. This is going to be much harder than I thought. Think Starfire. Think Starfire. Think Starfire…_'

Raven just passed his dazed look off as the heat getting to him and spoke again, "Like you said, not as good as I would've hoped, but I think it'll get the job done." She pulled out four smaller pieces of cloth that she had cut from her cloak, "Here. Keep a hold of these."

"What are they for?" he asked, holding one out in front of him like it was made of glass.

"Two are for you and two for me. Well tie them on and they'll be padding for our feet, at least when we're walking around in the dark. I really don't want you to have a cut, infected foot when I'm not able to use my powers to heal," Raven looked at him sternly.

His eyes widened, "Yes ma'am."

Raven put what was left of her outfit into Robin's bundled cape and tied its corners together. She picked it up and flung it over her shoulder, "Now, let's find a place to stay before it gets too dark to see."

"I agree. Exposure to the elements is really low on my list of _fun_ things to do right now," but before they started walking, Robin relieved Raven of the pack and slung it over his shoulder instead.

* * *

_Watch '**Batman Begins**' I command you!_

_OH! And review…PLEASE review._

_Though I do not profess to be great, I do not profess to suck either. --me_


	5. Reunion?

_Well all, I hope this chapter finds you more quickly than the last. You guys really DO make my day by reviewing. By the way, there are 14 chapters in the story…just to give you a summation of when it may end, though…it should only get better from here on out!_

_Yay! Sandwiches to everyone who reviewed! (You all can imagine your favorites at this point!) Let's see…who DID review? Oh right: **Lintilla **(yes! You will LOVE the movie!), **DarkWindingRose **(fwee…hehehe), **Cherry Jade**, **hafewolfdeamon, **and to all on the TT IMDb, I thank you now from the bottom of my heart.  
__**evilsangle: **yeah, a Rob/Rae lemon WOULD be entertaining, but there's not one in this story…sorry, though you should like what I did anyway! (and besides, IF I were to write a Rob/Rae lemon, it would be part two of 'Passion's Intensity', though I still like that one shot the way it is…)  
__**Reggie Tuesday:** hey! Thanks for popping up! And also thanks for supporting my view that Robin should so think "Raven", but I really do like to keep them in character for the most part, so that's why I figure Robin would at least TRY thinking "Starfire" before going all out. And BTW, BB and Cy are this chapter, so I hope I've satisfied your curiosity.  
__**Savvy: **Hehe, yay! I'm turning Savvy? (well, you know me…I'm a **touch** evil…, but like I've said before, I'm an equal-opportunity shipper, thus my absolute love of 'Stranded' as well…). Glad you liked the "mask" thing as well. I figured that it would work pretty well, especially since they ARE alone and she HAS basically seen everything he has to hide. And yay again! I'm helping you through your withdrawl? Awww…I feel so flattered!_

_Disclaimer: If I owned 'Harry Potter', he would have so just kicked Malfoy's ass by now…oh, wait…wrong category…oops. Well, y'all know I don't own anything anyway. -As you can see, I barely own my brain._

_So, what have Cy and BB been up to? Well, now you are just in time to find out…

* * *

_

****

**_Reunion?_**

"Starfire what are you talking about?" Cyborg looked at her with wide eyes, "We're your friends. Remember?" he pointed to himself, "Cyborg?" he motioned to the side, "Beast Boy? And why aren't you speaking your 'oddly descriptive' English like you usually do?"

Starfire stared at him blankly, "I've always talked like this, and you are _not_ Cyborg. And I don't know of _any_ 'Beast Boy.'"

Beast Boy took a brave step toward her, "Star, come on…you don't remember me? BB?" he shifted into his "cuddly little kitten" form, blinked his big eyes, and mewed. He became Beast Boy once more and asked almost pleadingly, "You gotta remember the _face_…don't you?"

Starfire finally relaxed her body, but looked at him as though she were contemplating between voicing caustic laughter or showing sarcastic confusion, "Okay first of all, what the hell was that? Secondly I really don't know of any 'Beast _Boy'_. The only person I know that can do _that_ is Beast _Girl_."

Beast Boy's jaw unhinged, "WHAT?"

Cyborg looked just as surprised, "You mean there's another shape shifter? And it's a GIRL?"

Starfire shook her head in disgust, "Of _course_! You mean you've never heard of her before?"

"Uh, NO!" Beast Boy blurted.

Cyborg rolled his fingers through the air as if he were twirling a rubber band over and over while thinking. "So, since you know Beast 'Girl', does that mean that there is like a 'Cy-girl' too!" he asked almost hopefully.

"No. I know a 'Cyborg', I just don't know why _you_ are using that name," she stuck her hand on her hip, "Except for your metal armor and computer parts, you don't look or act like him."

Cyborg tipped his head to the side and lowered his right eyebrow, "Girl, what are you talkin' about?"

She paced in a circle around him, examining him with her eyes, "Well first of all, _my_Cyborg is white."

Cyborg did a double take, "WHAT?" He didn't move a muscle for a minute and a half. Then he finally expressed his thoughts, "Aw HELL no!"

"And he has a very specific drawl to his voice," she said stepping back.

"Like, he's southern or something too! Aw **_HELL_** no!" Cyborg rubbed his temples, then tipped his head back, causing him to stare up at the still ruddy sky.

"You should meet him yourself and find out," Starfire said picking the "wraith" up off of the ground and hauling him on her back, away from them and down the alley.

After a long pause Beast Boy stepped forward, crossing his hands back and forth, "Whoa whoa whoa…wait a minute!" he formed his hands into a "T", "Time out. I repeat the initial question, 'What the HELL is going on here!' First, Star's all foxy and savvy about the English language…then, she says Cy's not Cy and that I'm supposed to be a…GIRL!" he gasped and made WAY too big a fuss at the last thing.

"Maybe you should be asking, '_Where_ the hell are we?' B," Cyborg concluded, "I mean, I don't think we're in Kansas any more Toto."

"What are you talking about?" Beast Boy wailed.

Cy picked him up and started after Starfire, "B, we're not on our Earth. That black orb thingy that we got sucked into…the one that should have killed us? Well, I think it sent us here. There has to be some reason -something we can do about it, but right now I think we should follow Star and find out more about _this_ world." Since Beast Boy didn't have much of a choice at this point he just gave up struggling and conceded.

To her surprise, they aided Starfire in capturing the other three wraiths. When they had finally imprisoned the final errant wraith, Starfire asked, well, basically _told_ them to come with her to the tower, so they informed her of their story on the way.

"Well boys," Star said bending over with straight legs to dust off her boots –which made both boys stare, but quickly look away when she straightened, "even though I don't quite believe you yet, I welcome you to our humble home."

And _humble_ it was. In this dimension, even Titans Tower was in disrepair. Many windows, if they weren't completely missing, showed blatantly shoddy repairs. The front door was bent inward, and when they walked inside, they noticed that the carpet had never been replaced even though it showed obvious signs of ware. Cyborg hadn't even needed Starfire to carry him across the moat because it had dried to a mere puddle that was hardly even any trouble to even step over.

"So, where is this Beast 'Girl' I've been hearing so much about?" Beast Boy asked, trying as hard as he could to look both sickened and disinterested at once.

Starfire motioned them down the hall, "She was monitoring the wraiths locations when I left. She must be in the control room." They stood behind her as she opened the door, but they all noticed at once that the room was completely empty. "Hey, Beast Girl! Where you at?" Starfire yelled. The only thing _that_ produced was the sound of her voice echoing throughout the room.

A search at that point was pointless, so they turned to leave. All of a sudden, something dropped from the ceiling and swung back and forth in front of them. It was a little green furry monkey hanging upside down from a pipe by its tail and cautiously looking them over. It dropped to the floor before transforming into a pigtailed, bright-eyed version of Beast Boy, "Hey guys!" it said cheerfully, "What are we looking for?"

"Actually we were looking for you BG," Starfire said to her. Then she turned to the guys and motioned back and forth during the introduction, "Guys, this is Beast Girl. Beast Girl this is Beast _Boy_ and um, Cyborg."

"Hi!" she said perkily, sticking out both of her hands, one to each of them. After a minute of introductory conversation, the realization finally hit her, "Wait a minute! _You_ can't be Cyborg! And why do _you_ look like _me_?" she pointed her right hand at Cyborg and her left at Beast Boy while she asked that question.

They both let out huge sighs as they began to explain everything to her, but Starfire stopped them, "Maybe…you should wait until you see everyone before you explain. I'm not that keen on the idea of having to hear the same story several times." They nodded in agreement. "Good. Then, shall we?" She motioned them onward.

They paraded down the hall to the garage. Star opened the door and walked right in, "Yo Cy! You in here?"

She flipped the light switch up, which flooded the place in a harsh white light. Cyborg let his eyes travel around the room, '_Well at least **this **place is in good shape_.' Then they rested on this dimension's T-Car. "My BABY!" he cried, bolting forward and hugging it, "Aw, no no no! What did they DO to you?"

"Oh, ya like it?" The other Cyborg asked, stepping from the shadows and wiping his hands with a rag, "I made 'er from scratch. Ever little piece, handcrafted into this magnificently sleek, perfection on wheels," he slid his hands along the shiny chrome, "Oh, this baby's got a twin turbo charged turbine fission engine. It's only putting out about four thousand horsepower right now, but I was thinking of changing my intercooler to liquid because of the air charge temperature problem. Ought to add 'nother three hundred ponies! And I added my own _special_ touches, just to make 'er my own," he finished, slapping the side of the car for emphasis.

At the mention of the "special touches" Cyborg's eye twitched violently and he had to brace his arms on the car itself to not fall over. The "special touches" that the other Cyborg had mentioned started with a huge set of bull-horns sticking up over the grill. It was also jacked up with monster super-swamper tires on top of an eight-inch lift, but the frame stretched far enough to allow for a small hot tub in the back. Cyborg put his hands over his face to keep from crying, '_I can't believe he did this to my baby!_'

The other Cyborg pointed to the horns, "Yeah, these puppies came from my old man's shop –God rest his soul, and the hot tub? Well, that's for them pretty ladies that I come across ever now and again."

Cyborg forgot his shock for the moment and his eyes widened cheerfully, "Oh, yeah! The hunnies sure would go for that." He slapped Cy on the back, then grabbed him around the shoulder, "Maybe I should do that with mine…say what did you do about the transfer problem with the…" his voice trailed off as they wandered around to the other side of the car.

Beast Boy stuck a finger up in the air and started after them, "Uh, Cy and…uh, Cy. Dudes? Hey! What about me?" After a few short introductions and a quick realization by both Cyborgs that they really _did_ look alike, Starfire stepped in and mentioned that they needed to go look for someone else.

Beast Boy broke in again, "Wait, before we go, what are we gonna call you? One Cyborg is enough, but since there are two now…do we call you Vic, or Cyborg version 2.0, or what?"

The other Cyborg looked at Cyborg and grinned, "I doubt either of us would like to stick a 2 behind their name. I kinda like bein' number one myself."

Cyborg nodded, "So do I."

"Just call me Cy. That should work," he finished.

Starfire stepped between them, "Okay…now that we know who's who, let's get a move on."

One floor up, they stopped before a door at which Starfire knocked, "Raven, Rae…" she whispered, "There are a couple of people out here that I _really_ think you need to see."

Beast Boy elbowed Cyborg in his ribs and spoke behind his raised hand, "Geez, I wonder what _this_ Raven's gonna be like?"

"Probably wears pink and is perky as hell," he whispered back with his mouth to the side.

After a moment, the door slid open a few inches and half of a cloaked face peered out at them, "What Starfire? You know I don't like to be disturbed when I'm meditating."

"Rae, this is 'Cyborg'," (this time she actually said it with air quotes), "and Beast _Boy_. They have come to us from another Jump City and have a very interesting story to tell -the details of which I have already asked them to explain later."

Raven opened the door farther and asked in complete monotone, "Do you mean that they came from another planet? Or they came from another plane of existence?"

"The second one," Cyborg chimed in.

She nodded and turned away, wrapping the cloak around her tighter, "Alright, after you explain everything. I'll look through my books and see if there are any useful spells to get you back to your home."

Beast Boy spoke to Cyborg behind his hand once again, "What the heck is so different about her? She seems like the same old Raven to me."

Starfire stopped the door from closing, "Raven, I know you need to meditate and there will be ample time later, but right now, I need you to come with us to the main room."

"Fine," Raven turned around. The door to her room closed, and as she levitated to follow Starfire, she pulled down her hood revealing a head of dark pink hair.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhh!" Beast Boy and Cyborg said in unison with their mouths dropped open. "See! I told you she'd be wearing pink!" Cyborg declared matter of factly, before following.

(Once upon a time, back in the tower, he remembered -when Starfire had first arrived, she had somehow talked Raven into coloring her hair. "Just a few blue streaks Starfire," he'd heard Raven say as courteously as she could, but of course Star's English wasn't quite proficient enough to allow her to read the directions correctly and Raven's "blue streaks" became a white ones. He and BB had laughed for hours about that one, but of course he would never even dream of telling _this_ Raven that. He had caught enough hell about it from his Raven; he didn't want to think about what this one would do to him over it as well).

They came to the main room and all plopped down on the couch, all but Starfire who leaned casually over the back of it. She addressed them all with an air of authority, "Okay guys. Why don't you regale us with your story once more."

Cyborg stood and began pacing to better tell the story. But before he could get a word of it out, he stopped himself, "Hey, where's Robin?"

"Who?" all the Titans asked in unison.

"You know, Robin -the uptight one with the black spiky hair?" Beast Boy interjected, "…Always wears a mask?"

They just stared at him with questioning looks on their faces, so Cyborg tried once more, "You know, the fifth member of your team."

Starfire gained a look of recognition, "Oh! You mean Ted."

Now it was Beast Boy and Cyborg's turn to speak in unison, "What!"

"Ted. He's our fifth team member," she pointed to the corner of the room, "Ted's right over there." She saw the looks of confusion on their faces and walked over to the corner and began apparently speaking to the air, "Ted, come on. You can stop being scared, these are good guys, they're our friends." Out of nowhere -like magic, a skinny, scraggly black haired boy with thick glasses and wearing a uniform that actually looked fairly similar to Robin's appeared. "Please come sit with us."

As he sat, Raven spoke to the boys on Ted's behalf, "Ted gets scared easily and when he does, he becomes invisible."

Beast Girl chimed in, "We just keep him around cause he knows stuff. He's not much use in battle."

Beast Boy shook his head violently and turned to Cyborg, "Dude this is too weird."

"No comment."

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_WHAT! **GASP!** Nooooo! You haven't seen it YET? But, But… _

_Oh, okay, I will go on…but at least…for my sake (and my sanity),_

_Review. PLEASE Review…_

_Though I do not profess to be great, I do not profess to suck either. -me_


	6. I Didn't Just See That

_I'm so happy to hear such a positive response from my last two chapters, especially this last one. I'm so glad that you all really like the quirks I've given to the team members in this alternate reality. I know it's odd that Star seems to be the leader. You'd think that would be so totally contradictory to her normal self, but I just started writing her as this vamp and she just seemed to naturally take over the position of leader. Well, without a Robin to speak of…SOMEONE had to take the helm._

_So, anyway…on to the **THANK YOUS**! This time, how about a free pass to lay outside in the grass and stare up at the stars. –Well, that's MY idea of a fun time at least (okay, so I'm a dork, but you guys should have guessed that before): **DarkWindingRose, Cherry Jade, Teen Titans Obsessor **(whom I must thank like 4 times over! All of your reviews were awesome! So glad you could find my stuff!), **evilsangle **(nothing wrong with trying hehehe), **tritium**, and one person I forgot to thank before-**Patrick O'Neal.** He helped me round out my story and basically came up with the concept for Ted. Thank you!  
__**evilevergreen: **well, thank you for reviewing both chapters! I'm glad you liked them and yeah, I'm going to try my darndest to get out a new chapter every other day or at LEAST every third day now that I don't have any huge events going on in my life (I know…sad). Anyway, thanks again!  
__**Cyberclock000**: yes, that seems to be the way things are shaping up in the alternate reality. I like Star as the leader and I'm sorry, but I LOVE Ted. It is just SO not Robin. And I will try to get to your story since you requested so nicely. I had to work a couple 11-7am's here the last few days so that's why I haven't yet (actually I'm updating this while at work…shh, don't tell anyone!)  
__**Lintilla**: YES! Anything can happen! I'm glad you're going to live still, even though I threw a wrench in the works with no "Robin". (But I really do like Ted).  
__**Hafewolfdeamon:** hehehe, you made me laugh lots with your review. You just gotta go with the flow babe! And yes, I could've made them oppositely gendered, but I wanted them to have just really odd quirks and this stuff just popped out of my head.  
__**Scott Okragleski**: yay! I'm on author alerts! Hey, just wait til you get to the stuff you haven't previewed! You should enjoy it a lot. And YES! They should so make any TT live action movie that comes about like the Batman movie. Dark, but still with good humor!_  
_**Savvy: **Oh right! I DID use "savvy". I just love that word, and of course, how could I NOT think of you while writing it down! Yay for little cliffies! That's one of the things I wanted to do with this one. Like I said at the beginning, it's kinda like 3 stories in one, thus switching up perspectives keeps things fresh and interesting. And if you're waiting for a Star/Speedy chapter, wait no longer…._

_Disclaimer: As per 'Stranded', if I owned TT, I would have so had Star be not only a Girl, who is a Friend to Robin…think about that y'all (see, obviously that means I don't own the show)._

_More Star and Speedy action! Hopefully this one will make you laugh and maybe shock you just a bit…

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_

**I Didn't Just See That…**

Starfire awoke with the sun, feeling much more at ease than she was the day before, though she was still very worried about her friends. She pushed the covers down and sat on the edge of the bed stretching her arms above her head. She planned big things for the day. She would find her friends if it took every last ounce of strength she could muster, but first, she would shower.

She wandered down the hall carrying her towel and a shower caddy. Even though she was missing her friends, she was relieved to have the shower to herself this morning. There was a restroom on each floor, but her room happened to be on the same floor as Robin and Cyborg's. Raven only had to deal with Beast Boy…though she imagined having to share with Beast Boy was just as bad, or worse than having to share with the other two boys.

She shoved back the curtain and turned the knobs. She jumped out of the way quickly, waiting for the water to heat up. She had learned from experience that here on Earth, the water was not already at the correct temperature to step into right away. When she had first joined the Titans, Raven had had to show her how to work the knobs for the shower, and Star being Star had plunged in headfirst –with all of her clothes on no less- and had gotten the shock of her life as the freezing cold water shot out at her. She had screamed bloody murder and shot out a starbolt making a giant hole in the wall and causing the pipes to burst, which in turn made the whole west end of the 3rd floor flood as the water gushed out at an alarming rate. Raven tried repeatedly to encase the pipes in a black veil, hoping to stifle the flow. She had yelled to Starfire to go get Cyborg, but just as she flew off to search for him, he came running at her down the hall yelling about how the water had dripped down into the main room and onto him causing the circuits in his left arm to malfunction.

He found the valves and turned them off, finally making the flow of the water cease. Seconds later Robin had popped in front of the door, monkey wrench at the ready, covered in overalls and carrying a toolbox. After that, Starfire had always been very cautious when starting the water for her showers.

She stuck her hand in to check the temperature. It was almost warm enough, so she slinked out of her purple satin pajamas and kicked them to the side. She stepped in and let the warmth envelop her. She loved this part. Every fear, every worry, every care that she had, was washed away and all that she had to think about was the relaxation that it brought to her.

She sang quietly to herself -songs that she had heard on the Earth "radio". Evidently the beloved "Screeching Tolma" of her world was fairly "ear-piercing" as her friends described it and they always asked her nicely to please stop whenever she would start in on one. But, when she wasn't singing her native Tamaranian folk songs, she noticed that her friends didn't mind listening. Robin had even mentioned once that she actually had a "very nice voice" which made her heart flutter with enjoyment.

When she had cleansed thoroughly and also allowed herself an extra few minutes to rinse, she turned off the water and shoved the curtain to the side. She squeezed the excess water from her hair before stepping completely out of the shower. As she reached for her towel, she heard the door squeak as it swung open. Before she could grasp hold of the terrycloth, Speedy burst through the doorway yawning and stretching, heading for the sink. Starfire stood still in complete shock. Even though he still hadn't noticed her, she couldn't make a further move for her towel, she couldn't even let out a squeal for fear that something unspeakable might happen.

Speedy turned the valves on at the sink and bent down to splash his face with the water. It was freezing cold, but it served its intended purpose of waking him quickly. He let out a, "Whoo!" as his entire body shook from the jolt it had just taken. His eyes popped open and he turned to wipe his hands on a towel when he saw a tall redheaded statuesque woman standing stock still in front of him, naked. "Oh my gosh!" he yelled as he turned away and ducked his head behind his hand, "I am soo sorry. I didn't know anyone else was up. I'm always up before everyone in my Tower and I just didn't think before barging in. I should have checked." A small squeak escaped from Starfire as she finally willed her hand to grab the towel. "And now I've…I've gotta go." He ran out of the room and down the hall to his current place of residence.

'_Well, okay then! That was awkward. I should've checked, or knocked, or something… but DANG did she look good! Oh, no no no. I should not be thinking that. When Robin told me about her at our first meeting he made it fairly clear that he was aiming for her affections. -And now I can see why he was talking that way…_' he smacked his forehead, '_Whoa! Down_ _Speedy! Stop it! The poor girl was standing there naked and you saw her **and** it was your fault! Note to self: Apologize profusely later._ _–But **wow** was she hot!'_ He finally quelled his inappropriate thoughts and grabbed a towel out of Robin's closet. He headed down the hall to the elevator and pressed the button for the 4th floor. He had decided to do _his_ showering on a different floor this morning.

Starfire wrapped the towel around her body tightly, grabbed her stuff, and hurriedly flew to her room. She seized an outfit out of her closet and threw it on. She needed to get up to the roof and just sit for a while to gather her thoughts. She took a hairbrush with her, but nothing else.

Lying out in the sun had become one of her "feel good" rituals. It energized her for the day, but also like the shower (usually) gave her time to relax. She used to do this on Tamaran too, back as far as she could remember. Her people thrived on the sun; her orange tinted skin meant she would never have to worry about burning or tanning. She just stored the energy. It was how she created her starbolts. She would splay out on the metal of the roof, but would then rise up into the air as though she were sitting in an invisible lawn chair. This morning she could feel her skin absorbing the sun's rays as usual, but she wasn't enjoying herself as much as she normally did. She kept thinking about Speedy. '_He should not have come into the room of showering while I was in it! But Starfire, it was an honest mistake…yes, but I was not clothed and I do not believe that that is acceptable here on Earth. When I accidentally interrupted Robin in the room of showering, he reacted even more outrageously than I and he was not even not clothed! I should not be too upset. Mister Speedy did not do wrong on purpose and I do not really mind. Why, on Tameran it would have been customary to welcome him inside. I still do not know how to react to these things here on Earth and I do not think that he knows how to either. Anyway, I do not think that worrying will accomplish anything if he is to help me find my friends. Maybe I should talk to him and see how he is feeling…Yes that is what I shall do.'_ She basked in the sun a moment more before brushing out her now drying hair and heading back inside.

Speedy was at the computer in the main room talking to the other Titans back east. He addressed Bumble Bee who was sitting directly on the other side of the screen, "Yeah Bee, I'm going to go with Starfire to the sight of their disappearance and see if we can't find something new or maybe just see if we can clear out the singularities so no one else will have to suffer the same fates."

She nodded in approval, "That sounds like a good plan. Have you had any problems so far?"

Speedy thought about the incident that morning and tried to dodge the subject, "Just one mishap, but it's no big deal."

She raised an eyebrow, but decided to just shrug it off, "Well alright then. If you and Starfire need any of our help, we'll be here." Then she stuck one hand on her hip and started to wave the other at him, "And you _better_let us know. Cause if I hear that you _did_ need our help and you didn't, you are gonna be in such trouble that your children's children are gonna ask their mammas why they feel a constant pain in their behind. You got me?"

Speedy smiled, '_Well, no wonder she's our leader. None of the rest of us have that much attitude._' He laughed a bit before continuing, "Sure Bee, but don't worry too much. We'll be fine. Starfire's in good hands."

At the last mention of Starfire, he watched Mas y Menos pop into the background, "Si usted no se siente hasta permanecer¡uno de nosotros tomará alegre a su señor Speedy del lugar!"

Mas spoke again first, "Haré un buen trabajo de mirar sobre el Starfire encantador."

Then Menos spoke, "No¡Haré el buen trabajo!"

Then Mas, "No¡será yo!"

Then Menos, "No, Iré."

"No¡**_Iré_**!"

"No¡yo!"

"¡Yo!"

"¡**_Yo_**!"

"¡**_YO_**!"

Dust flew as they fought back and forth over which would be the one to take Speedy's place. Soon it was an all out war with fists flying and both rolling around trying to pin the other. With the fight still surging in the background, Aqualad stepped in front of them and interjected his sentiment, "Or, _I_ could take your place if you really aren't feeling up to being there," he seemed hopeful at this, but Speedy wasn't at all willing to let any of them stay with Starfire.

Yes, he was being selfish, even though he knew that it would probably be easier for Star to stay with one of the others now that he'd seen her naked (by accident). But he really did want to help and he was already there, plus deep down, he had to admit that he wanted to see what other interesting things may happen if he stayed, "Guys, didn't you just hear me? We're doing fine here and there will be no need for any of you to take over for me. Besides, I've already settled in here. Heck, I'm thinking of staying permanently!" He was joking and Bumble Bee knew it though she had to caution him against leaving their team just for good measure.

Luckily at the mention of Speedy's rejection of their offer, the two brothers stopped their fighting. One had to release his hold on the other's hair and they both had to pick up their goggles, but they did both agree to disagree and blew raspberries at Speedy. They mumbled, "Bastardo egoísta," while trudging off once more.

"Hey! I heard that!" Speedy yelled before they vanished from his sight.

Aqualad just shrugged and Bumble Bee shook her head in disgust, "Will they ever learn?" she turned back to him and said, "Good luck. Update us on your progress when you have any." Then the screen went black.

Speedy pushed back his chair and heard a dull "Oof!" he turned around to see Starfire rubbing her stomach, "Oh damn! I am so sorry. I didn't know you were standing there and I should've looked before I… Are you okay?" he chuckled for a while as he helped her over to the couch. He sat down next to her and started to apologize once more, "Starfire, I'm really sorry about everything that's happened so far. I'm supposed to be helping you and all I'm doing is hurting and embarrassing you. I'm sure you've heard the guys offer to come and take my place. If you really want me to, I'll leave and one of them can stay with you. But, if you _do_ let me stay, I'll try really hard to do the best I can to not let anything else happen to you at my hand."

She caught him off guard with her next move: she hugged him so tightly that he felt like his eyes would pop out of his head, "Friend! You should not feel so badly about what has happened. I know that you did not mean to see me out of my clothes and that you also did not mean for the chair to be so rude to me. I do not wish for you to go, but if you feel that you must, then I cannot stop you."

She looked so disappointed that he obviously couldn't deny her request, "I'll stay, but are you sure you're okay about what happened?" she nodded emphatically and he let out a sigh of relief, "Good, then let's go find your friends. Shall we?"

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_Yay! The nakedness…hehehe, hope you all enjoyed!_

_Now, as repayment, would you do me the immense favor of Reviewing? I would enjoy it so!_

_OH! And by the way, one more translation for Mas y Menos: (something along the lines of…) "If he does not feel like staying, one of us could take his place!" – "I will go to watch the beautiful Starfire!" – "No, I will go" – "No me!" – "Me!" – "ME!" (ect.) Then finally: "Egotistical Bastard." (hehehe)_

_Though I do not profess to be great, I do not profess to suck either! -me_


	7. Care for a Swim?

_Hey again y'all! I know, I know, I told you I'd get the next chapter out in like 2 days, but my stupid internet crapped out on me last night and it just would NOT come back on. I begged, I pleaded, I think I even got down on my knees and worshiped the ground it came from, but it did no good (probably because it has no emotions whatsoever, thus pleading would not work anyway, but you know I had to try). So, I finally give you chapter 7! _

_So, I've run out of things to THANK YOU all with, but I will take suggestions! In the mean time, to those of you who so rock (and you know who you are, but I'll name you anyway) Thank you: **Dark Winding Rose, evilsangle, Savvy **(I will not disappoint!), **kissa123**(hi!), **lintilla, They call me Sweetsnow, Bethany Elise** (Thank you for reviewing both chapters!), (and also, I've forgotten to thank a few of the wonderful people from the IMDb boards who also review my story. -even though I post thank you's there), **Mad Clown Disease, Hermione3001, johnmurdoch2002, Blonde Pirate** (I know you said you reviewed here, but I don't know exactly who…) AND…_

_**Stevem: **thank you for all of your imput. I would gladly take more. You are correct. I didn't even think that even though It would be extremely hot, that they probably would leave on their boots –though in 'The Quest' Robin DID take off his boots and go barefoot, so you never know, but that was a good catch. Thank you. I can definitely use the help and critiques!_

_**Scott Okragleski: **yeah, I really like Mas y Menos. It's too bad Titans east kinda sucks as a group. Individually they're kinda cooler. And as I write this…think about it this way: LESS than 90 days! Yay for you._

_**cyberclock000: **yeah, I loved that part too. It was one of the happy accidents that pops out of my fingers every now and then. Most of the stuff I write just comes out on the fly. And you're welcome for the pass;) And I do thank you for writing longer reviews. It just gives me even more to look forward to!_

_**Cherry Jade: **Yeah, Bee can put anyone in their place can't she? I love that part. She just can get all "attitude up in your face" and I know that's why she's their leader. Thank you again for reviewing! Always love to see them!_

_**Cutter-with-a-cause: **why would you feel sorry for expressing an opinion? I feel honored if anyone expresses an opinion. Especially one that is a happy one! Feel free!_

_**TeenTitansObsessor: **Got your review in the nick of time! Thank you so much for enjoying my works! I do try hard to entertain. (And I'm glad you're okay ;)) _

_--So, moving on to some Rob/Rae goodness… by the way anyone else seen '**The End'**(parts 1, 2, and 3)! Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa……………... yay! YAY! YAY! A million times yay! They will never make a better episode, mark my words, but they better darn well try!_

_Disclaimer: I'm just too uninspired to write something witty at the moment, so get this through your heads sitemasters, I do not own the show! Must I tell you again? --Well, yes, I guess I must since I have 7 more chapters…crud... nice sitemasters, good sitemasters, (please don't hurt me!) -----aaaaaaeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

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**_Care for a Swim?_**

Robin and Raven had headed directly inland to find shelter for the night. They had come upon a small cave -about five by eight feet- before it got too dark to see. Both had been thankful to find it, but neither was very keen on sleeping together in such close quarters. "Well, I guess this will have to do for now," Robin finally said aloud, "There's no way we'll be able to look for anywhere else to stay tonight." He unfurled his cape and pulled out the larger torn pieces of Raven's cloak, "We can use these as 'pillows' for now and I guess since there is only one way to lie, we'll be able to use this…" he then held up his own cape, "as a blanket."

Raven sighed and rolled her eyes, she didn't know how she would cope sleeping next to the man she had such a strong desire toward not so long ago, but this was kind of an odd situation so she decided to just "go with the flow". "Fine, but let's just try to keep as far to our respective sides as possible." She lay on the left and he on the right. She wasn't tired at all despite all of the energy she'd expended that day, so she just rolled to face the wall of the cave, pretending to be asleep. Every quiet minute that passed, she rehashed the events of the day in her mind.

Robin didn't know it, but he was doing the exact same thing, only he happened to be staring at the opposite wall. '_I need to take a page from Raven's book and keep my emotions under control... Listen to me, even when I'm trying not to think about her, I'm thinking about her! Come on Robin. You're stronger than this. You just need to…oh crap! I think I just elbowed her ribcage! I hope she didn't notice. -Okay Robin, this will be much easier if you just go to sleep._'

While Robin, was willing himself to sleep, Raven was trying to meditate silently, '_Azarath Metrion Zinthos… Robin is only 6 inches away from me…Azarath Metrion Zinthos…Raven just breath in slowly…Azarath Metrion Zinthos…and out slowly…Azarath Metrion Zinthos…good Raven, good…Azarath MetriOW! Did Robin just elbow me? That better not have been on purpose or he's gonna…wait, whoa Raven, calm…of course he didn't do it on purpose. Robin is not like that and besides, he doesn't even know how you're feeling about him so he'd have no need to pick on you about it. Okay, back to meditation…Azarath Metrion Zinthos…this would be so much easier if I couldn't feel the heat radiating from of his body…Azarath Metrion Zinthos_.'

This went on for hours until they both finally fell into a light sleep, though every time they happened to bump into each other during the night, they would awaken and apologize profusely, mentally checking where their hands had been, before rolling over and attempting to fall back asleep.

Raven thanked the sun extensively as it peered into the cave, slowly bathing her in light. She popped up quietly, trying not to disturb her consort and wandered outside in search of…well anything that would take her away from the cave, her thoughts, …and Robin. She surveyed her surroundings, '_Right or left? Neither looks any better than the other…okay, right it is,'_ and she headed off.

Robin rolled over and stretched his arms out to the sides as the sun washed over his face. It took him a few seconds for the events of the past day to register in his mind, but once they did, he noticed that his companion was missing. He panicked momentarily, but felt around and realized that the spot where she was supposed to have been was still warm –she hadn't been gone long. He quickly gathered their meager belongings and threw them into his cape. As he walked outside, he looked to the ground and noticed two sets of footprints coming into the cave, but only one leaving.

He followed the small imprints, hoping to find Raven. At times, they were barely visible, but being trained to pick up on imperceptible traces, meant that Robin had no problem following Raven's trail. She had gotten farther than he would've thought considering her only-slight lead. She had even climbed up a trail that lead to the peak of a cliff on the island. '_Well, at least if nothing else, I can see everything from the top and that will make it much easier to find us a better place to stay for the night,' _Robin thought optimistically.

He finally found her. She stood, gazing off the edge of the precipice. She looked as though she was about to jump and Robin darted forward dropping his pack. He grabbed Raven's arm and yanked her backward, "Raven no! I know the situation looks hopeless right now, but I still need you. Please don't jump!"

Raven ripped her arm away, "What are you talking about! I wasn't going to "jump" like _you_ put it. Look!" She pointed over to where she had been standing.

Robin cautiously approached the edge and looked down. About 30ft. below the cliff there was a huge pool of freshwater. He traced the source of the water to a stream on his left. It created the waterfall which fed into the lagoon. "Oh, um, I'm sorry," he said turning around, "It's just that I thought…well I was worried about you."

"That's wonderful Robin," she deadpanned, crossing her arms, "Yes. Save me… Save me, from the horrible, terrible, "Blue Lagoon" -I mean I know it was a really bad movie, but…"

"Rae, come on. I was just trying to help," he sighed, showing his exasperation by shrugging his shoulders, "It's what I do."

Raven turned her head away as her eyes widened, '_Did he just call me **Rae**? He doesn't call me Rae, the **other** guys call me Rae, but not him! --Raven stop it! It's nothing, he probably just picked it up by hearing it so often…Don't let this get to you!_' She turned back, regaining her emotionless face, "I just thought it might be nice to take a dip that's all, but I didn't know if I wanted to jump that far. There's probably another way around."

Robin glanced over the bluff to double check and smiled sportively, '_I've leapt farther than that before._' "Raven, bring the pack!" He ran the few feet to the edge and yelled, "Bonsai!" as he dove off.

Raven ran after him, just catching sight of his feet before the splash. She watched from the cliff hoping that Robin would surface quickly. After a minute with no sign of him, fear was growing rapidly inside of her. It was still unnerving being able to feel so strongly without anything blowing up around her, but it was more unnerving not being able to see that Robin was safe. She gathered her courage and jumped –hoping to God she wouldn't hit him- closing her eyes until her feet hit the water.

She struggled to the surface quickly and peered through water-covered lashes, thrashing wildly in search of Robin. With success still eluding her and with only precious seconds of Robin's oxygen left, she dove under the water, blindly feeling her way around hoping to grab hold of anything on Robin's person. She felt nothing but rocks and weeds and so surfaced for breath once more. '_Damn alternate reality! If I had my powers I could find him!_' her mind screamed. She knew it would do no good, but with no other ideas left, she called out his name, over and over.

All yelling ceased when something grabbed her foot and dragged her underneath the water. She felt around desperately and her hand brushed over a recognizable material. She grasped Robin's shirt and hauled him to the surface. As their heads emerged she quickly realized that Robin was not breathing. She found that the adrenaline was giving her an almost superhuman strength as she pulled him aground. "Okay Raven. Robin made you study resuscitation techniques just in case, so just go step by step… Hard flat surface -got it. Tilt head back –done. Pinch nose closed…mouth over his…two quick shallow breaths –done. Did his chest rise? …No. Damn it! Once more…"

The second time she placed her mouth on his, Robin moved and Raven pulled away to let him cough out the excess water, but she noticed that he didn't cough or even feel the need to gasp for air; he just sat up on his elbows and said, "Good job Raven. I knew that would come in handy some time."

Raven reeled back, her hand grabbing her chest in surprise. She gasped before yelling, "You _asshole_! What the _HELL_ was that! I was scared out of my freaking mind! I thought you were going to die!" she paused, taking a deep breath and gathering her thoughts "-but now, you _are_ going to die, because _I_ am going to _kill_ you!" She lunged forward, but stopped and turned away. Her breath came rapidly and every muscle in her face tensed upon the realization that she couldn't really _do_ anything to him without her powers.

Robin crawled to her, "Rae, it was a joke. Look, I'm sorry. I didn't know you would feel so… _Raven_, please talk to me!"

She whipped around, "You thought that would be _funny_! Are you kidding me! That was as far from, 'funny' as you could get." She placed her head in her hands to hide her rapidly approaching tears, "You scared the hell out of me Robin! I really did think that you were hurt or _worse_! And there would be nothing I could do to heal you. You would've left me all alone…and despite what I usually say, I don't _want_ to be alone."

Robin took a chance and threw his arms around her in a tight embrace, "Raven, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for this to turn out this way. I should be smarter than this, but obviously sometimes common sense evades me," he stood and apologetically offered her his hand, "Rae I know there's nothing I can do to make this up to you, but would you let me try?"

She set her hand in his and rose to meet his eyes, "Well, there is _one_ thing…drink up!" She shoved forward as hard as she could, making Robin fall back into the lagoon and creating a huge splash. When he popped out of the water, she laughed, "Now _that_ was funny."

He shook his head "no" raising his eyebrow playfully, "You're gonna get it!" He dove under and swam to her grabbing her leg and pulling her in with him. As she emerged, she brushed her hair out of her face. Spotting Robin not far from her, she slid her hand forward, skimming the surface and covering him with a wave of water. When he recovered, he did the same, thus fueling the fire for an oncoming "splashing war". Robin tried a sneak attack and failed miserably, while Raven just kept flailing like mad, dousing him completely.

Finally tiring of not getting the upper hand, Robin braved the wall of liquid to grab Raven's shoulders and pulled her under the water. She placed her hands on his chest and pushed away, but he held fast. After she struggled for a few seconds, he lifted her up above the surface and both stared at each other silently as the water dripped down their faces. Robin saw her violet eyes sparkle as she blinked away the droplets from her lashes. He felt his body take over, drawing her to him and pulling her into a long, sensuous kiss.

She didn't struggle. She just allowed him to move his lips over hers, slowly at first and then with more intensity. They could feel the passionate energy and both wanted it to continue, but Raven finally pulled away. She tried aloud to deny the feeling inside of her, "Robin, we shouldn't do this."

She started to swim away, but he grabbed her arm to pull her back, "But Raven…"

"But nothing!" she said shaking him off violently, "You like Starfire! -You've always liked her, and one little slip up is not going to change that!" She closed her eyes in dismay as she climbed out of the water and as soon as she could, she took off running.

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_ooooooooo controversy and even better STEAMY controversy!  
__What will happen?  
__Mwahahahahaha! You shall not find out until 3 chapters from now! Heh heh heh! (I wrote the story, I must always win! –no, not really, but still…I'm one of only 2 people who know the ending, so there!)_

_In order to be one of the chosen few to finish this journey, you must review! Are you willing to do that? No? Well then, you shall not be satisfied with an answer grasshopper!_

_Though I do not profess to be great, I do not profess to suck either! -me_


	8. Down Time

_Oh! I am SO happy to hear such a great response for my last chapter:Hugs you all: I do this for you guys! Well, okay, it's decently fun for me too, but that's beside the point… but see, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have any reason to update, or even post these stories, so I aim to please! I really just try to write something that I would want to read. I come up with a sketchy premise and hopefully a whollop of an ending and then let my fingers work their magic from there! Now on to my thank yous…_ _I had no requests for anything to (metaphorically) give you guys, so since I got such a good response for the last chapter, you each get 1 extra wish upon a shooting star the next time you see one! That's right! I'm giving you 2! In order to work this I shall give up one on each of mine for each one of you (since it's like my good luck symbol anyway, I think I'll be alright, besides, I just love y'all that much!). So, THANK YOU: **Savvy**(If you want you can have **2** extra!), **evilsangle, Techna** (I had hoped this would appease you), **Lintilla, CuTtErWiThAcAuSe** (there's enough Rob/Rae in the end to count), **ReggieTuesday**(hey Reg, profess away!), also** Hermie, **and** MCD**._

_**Aaronfors: **Yay! I'm addictive! I've always wanted to be addictive! Oh, you meant my story? Well, I guess I can take at least partial credit for that –so yay still! And thank you oh so much for your review. For some reason, it just made my day. (I still can't believe you're 16). Anyway…no more twitching for you! Chapter 8 is here now!_

_**Evilevergreen: **once again, yay! 2 reviews! Yes, that would have been sad to kill off Robin after all that they'd been through, and I DO like to throw you curve balls, just not really THAT bad…hopefully (hehehe) and yes. I have a name for my comp too! I call it Meru. Like from the PS2 game 'Legend of Dragoon'._

_**Kissa123:** Smiles lots one of the best stories you've read? Well wow! I don't even know how to take that compliment, so I will just say, Thank you oh ever so much. That just gives me more motivation to start writing another story! I will at least write another Rob/Star one shot here soon. I really need one of those. And hey, if you have a suggestion, I shall try to oblige. Something to get me going wouldn't be a bad idea at all!_

_**DarkWindingRose: **:brain rattles in head: OKAY OKAY….here :hands over chapter 8: will this appease you for now? (hehehe)_

_**CherryJade: **Maybe I'm trying to make you crazy…or maybe I'm not –you'll have to find out, for now you can rest peacefully in the fact that I love that you review (so, I wouldn't put you in TOO much pain… PS, I would love to see Raven just mentally throttle Robin myself._

_**Scott Okragleski:** sorry, I haven't barely had a chance to read over my own chapters to edit them, much less read anything else. I shall try hard to remember for next time. And sure PM me the joke. And hahaha…you are no longer in "the loop" about my story…yay, the excitement builds. –Oh, and you know Raven can't take a joke…_

_**Bethany Elise:** I was like, "The part from 'The Sandlot'?... OH!" yeah! I didn't even think about that, but that is so totally cool. I love that movie! And thank you for the compliments. I never think of myself as a good writer. I've just got great material to work with!_

_--Whew! That was a lot, but please…don't stop reviewing! I will always try my hardest to respond to each and every one of you!_

_(and BTW, I'm updating this while I'm at work…SHHHHHH! Don't tell!)_

_Disclaimer: Isn't Robin a hottie? I mean, whoo…Oh and BB's not too bad in the fun department, and Cy's got this whole suave thing going and… -not quite a "disclaimer", but really…who cares?

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_

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**_Down Time_**

"…and then Starfire brought us here where we met all of you," Cyborg finished up his account of the days harrowing events and glanced around the room at the faces taking in his every word. Beast Boy, surprisingly enough, was staring back at him in awe, as though he'd never before heard the account of what had happened to him just that day. Beast Girl sat next to him with the same expression of wonderment, only her head had tipped ever so slightly to the right with every gasp of excitement and fear, so much so that in the middle of Cyborg's oration, her head had touched Beast Boy's shoulder and they jumped back and turned away from each other, both sticking out their tongues in disgust before continuing their captivated listening. Cy gave him a nod and tipped his hat (yes, his cowboy hat) to him in understanding. Starfire had been leaning on one elbow with her chin in her hand checking her nails as if disinterested, though she was truly far from it. Raven, of course, showed no emotion whatsoever, and Ted was nowhere to be seen…again. "So, do y'all have any idea as to what we do now?" he asked finally breaking the silence that had since entered the room at the close of his tale.

Starfire leaned farther over the back of the couch and gestured to Raven. Cyborg had to try very hard to concentrate on her face and not to stare at what she was so blatantly exposing by her posture. "Raven," she stated authoritatively, "you and Ted go see if you can dig up some spells or enchantments of some sort that will send these two back to their own world," at her mention of his name, Ted popped back into view. Cyborg could tell that he was obviously much more comfortable in her presence than any of the others. He reasoned that it may be a sign of the same link in this world that he could see between Robin and Starfire from his own. "Cy, can you hook Beast Boy up to your diagnostic machine and see if you can find any sort of chemical imbalance or other reading that could help us out?" Cy nodded once again, this time to Starfire. "Good. Cyborg, you and I will go check out the location at which you entered our world and see if there are any clues to anything there. Not that I've got my hopes up or anything, but it's our only lead at the moment. And BG? Can you hold down the fort girl?"

"You can count on me!" she squeaked as she popped up off of the couch and saluted.

"Good. Then Cy can we…" she continued, but was rudely interrupted by Beast Boy.

"HEY! Why do **I** always have to be the one to have the tests tested on! I mean, it's not fair! It's always, 'Beast Boy, do this…and Beast Boy do that… and Beast Boy we need you to be our guinea pig,'" which he illustrated by rapidly morphing into and out of the form of the well known rodent, "and I'm sick of it! Why can't Cyborg be your test subject? Huh? Huh?"

Starfire responded by marching over and sizing him up –which she could easily do because of her extra tall figure, "Because I said so. Besides, Cyborg's systems are designed to reset themselves in different climates, or in emergency situations such as this and there's no way that we could detect abnormalities in his system, so just suck it up and deal with it."

Upon saying this, she turned her head quickly to glance back at Cyborg and threw him a wink as though she were trying to trick Beast Boy, even though Cyborg knew that everything she'd just said was true. '_This chick knows her stuff **and** she's holding all of the cards_,' he thought with a smirk, almost slightly turned on by the domineering manner in which she was carrying herself.

"Now, as I was saying…" Starfire continued, "Cy can we borrow the T-Car to get us out there faster?"

Cy's face lit up at this, "Hey girlie, why don't y'all take the 'Sandrunner'. It'll get ya out there quicker an' you can test out the new atm'sphere converter. -But sweetheart, shouldn' we all be gettin' some sleep right 'bout now anyhow?" To illustrate his point he directed her attention to the harvest moon already gleaming high in the night sky.

"Right, we should all get some rest," she stated this, almost as though she had thought of it herself. Then she turned her attention to Cyborg, "You can sleep in Cy's room. I know he's equipped with at least two of everything you'll need for the night."

"Sure as Texas chili'll burn a hole through a city boy's stomach!" Cy exclaimed with a grin and he led Cyborg out of the room where they continued their conversation about different conversion techniques and how adaptability can actually limit some components and blah, blah, blah…Beast Boy wasn't really listening. His only thoughts were concentrated on his well being as usual.

"So, where am **_I_** supposed to sleep then huh?"

Starfire glanced around the room and her eyes landed on Beast Girl, who on instinct glanced around the room as well, in hopes that Starfire truly meant to see someone else who just happened to be standing behind her, "You, can sleep in…"

"…_in here_! I'll sleep in here!" Beast Boy interjected quickly. "Just give me a pillow and I'll curl up on the couch and be just fine." He slipped into the form of a small puppy and hopped up onto a couch cushion just to show Starfire how serious he really was about _not_ sleeping in a room with that girl.

As Raven, Ted and BG exited, Starfire just shrugged and passed him a throw pillow before yawning and heading off to bed herself.

Beast Boy closed his eyes tentatively and drifted off into a fairly restful sleep considering the situation. He wouldn't have slept so well had he noticed the small pair of eyes watching him intently from the corner.

As the sun peeked its ray's into the main room, it witnessed the eyes reappear and creep closer and closer to Beast Boy. Soon they were inches away from his own, with only one purpose behind them…

"WAKE UP SLEEPY HEAD!"

"Yeeeeaaaaaaahhh!" Beast Boy squealed as his own eyes bolted open and found themselves staring into a pair of perky, wide awake, expectant one's. He would have fallen off of the couch had she not parked herself dead on top of him allowing him no room to move.

"Why aren't you up yet?" she pondered, not really caring for an answer.

"Dude! Get off of me!" he yelled adamantly, shoving her to the floor.

"Ow!" She rubbed her elbow in pain and looked up at him, on the verge of tears, "You didn't have to do that you know!"

Finally gathering his senses and waking slightly, Beast Boy apologized, "Hey, look. I'm sorry. You just scared the bajeezus out of me! Are you okay?" She pulled away and cradled her arm. "Look, let me see that. Maybe I can fix it for you. I don't want you to be mad at me."

She popped up off the floor, and turned to him, flashing a mischievous smile. "Psyche!" she cried as she ran off toward the exit giggling.

Beast Boy looked shocked but quickly recuperated and responded with the only weapon he had: the throw pillow -which he quickly launched across the room at her. "I will _so_ get you!"

"Everyone remember their assignments?" Starfire asked an hour later to her teammates who had congregated in the main hall. They all nodded in agreement except Beast Boy who only half nodded, as he was keeping one eye trained on Beast Girl at all times, -that, and he still was not looking forward to becoming 'Test Subject A'. "All right then. Let's move!"

At her command, they set out on their designated missions, Raven flinging her cape around her body as she turned to leave the room, dragging Ted behind her, Cy hauling a disheartened BB off to the testing facility, BG bounding out of the room as if someone had told her there would be ice cream sundaes waiting for her in the control room, and Starfire flicking her head to the side in a gesture designed to make Cyborg follow in compliance, though all he could do was stare at her now exposed neck.

Starfire led Cyborg back to the shop where she grabbed two helmets from the wall and threw one to him before shoving hers over her head and flipping up the visor. She then pulled out what looked to him like a motorized scooter with no wheels. "How's this thing going to work?" he asked disapprovingly.

"Like this," she said, expertly mounting the board and grasping the handles. "You better hang on real tight boy. Wouldn't want you to get dented or something," she stated almost mockingly as he hopped on behind her. He barely had time to throw his arms around her tiny waist before she turned the handle forward and threw her foot back, igniting the engine, lifting the board off of the ground and sending the Sandrunner hurtling forward. Cyborg only had time to freak out for one split second as they sped through the slit of an exit and out into the city.

They were traveling at speeds Cyborg had barely seen his T-ship do in space, so he had just mere moments before yelling at Starfire to stop. And actually, he ended up being grateful for her advice to hold tight because the jolt upon stopping caused him to slide sideways, leaving only his grip on her to keep himself steady. He yanked off his helmet and let out a sigh of relief. Starfire dismounted and whipped off her helmet as well, causing her glistening red hair to cascade down her face and shoulders randomly before she shook it back out of her eyes. "I warned you," she stated matter of factly.

"Yeah, I know," he said dropping his head a bit, "I gotta learn to trust you more. It's just that…you're so different from my Starfire back home. She doesn't know the ins and outs of things like you do."

She smiled at this, taking it as a compliment and stepped out into the 'crash site', "Now, lets see what we can find."

They searched for about an hour, sectioning off the places on which any land had been disrupted, but just as Starfire had expected, they found nothing of value. "Let's head back and see if the others found anything," she said finally, sounding to him as if she had somehow failed him miserably, before once again slipping on her helmet and situating herself on the Sandrunner. Cyborg shook his head in wonder at the level of perfection that she seemed to always wish to accomplish, even when it wasn't within her grasp. '_Gosh that girl just drives me crazy. --Cyborg, you stop that now. Just remember your sweet little Starfire back home, worrying her head off about you and not this vixen version and you'll be just fine_,' he thought as he climbed on behind her –just before catching a glimpse of her black satin thong as she bent forward to adjust the gear. '_Oh, lord have mercy._'

* * *

_Hehehehe…_

_IF you want more, you know what to do…_

_Though I do not profess to be great, I do not profess to suck either. -me_


	9. So Close, but yet So Far

_I'm back! Did you miss me? _

_I'm glad most of y'all liked the little "thing" I have going on with AU Star and Cyborg. Some of you may think it's kinda odd (okay REALLY odd), but think about this…being as much of a lady's man/player that I believe Cy to be, I think he would be having some "thoughts" about this vamped out Star, even as much as he tries to deny it. –I mean, who wouldn't?  
__Anyway, I love you guys! You so rock!  
__-Not as many reviews this time (I know, the Fourth of July weekend, plus it wasn't the Rob/Rae chapter most of you wanted) and still no one has given me suggestions as for what you would like to get from me…so this time, you get nothing! Nothing I tell you! Mwahahaha! –Well okay, nothing but my thanks, but still!  
__THANK YOU: **CuTtErWiThAcAuSe, Techna, Tritium, Teen Titans Obsessor **(I know, if I didn't see all 3 at once, I would've hurt someone!), **evilsangle, DarkWindingRose, **and **Hermie!**_

_**IoEuropa: **nice name change btw. I was wondering when you'd do that. I like my BB/BG playfulness too. I myself have no idea if they would really like each other, or if it would be like this brother/sister thing. I just know they'd definitely screw with each other. And Ted…what can I say, I just love Ted. -I inspired something? I guess I ought to check it out then. Gosh, I just haven't really read a fanfiction in a while. I must do that soon._

_**BethanyElise:** Hey Beth! Yeah, like I was telling Io, I just KNOW that BG/BB would so want to screw with each other. Watch for more of it to come!_

_**Aaronfors: **your review just made my heart light. Thank you so much –I don't think I can say it enough actually. You feel as though you are watching an episode? That has to be the best praise I could ever hope to get! As I've said before, I try really hard to keep the characters, well, in character. I've been given such great lumps of clay to mold to begin with and I don't wish to screw up their chemical make up. --I think part of my "genius" (though I wouldn't call it that) comes from my love of Psychology and personalities. I love to figure out how people work._

_--Okay, no more teasing you…you know this is Star and Speedy, hopefully you'll enjoy this one. I do!_

_Disclaimer: (I forgot the guys last time) So, that Raven, doesn't she just have some gorgeous curves? And Star…oh the cuteness…the CUTENESS! (Well, okay, next time a real disclaimer).

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_

_**So Close, but yet So Far**_

"No!" Starfire yelled, almost dropping Speedy as she floated up above the once disastrous hill, "No, this cannot be!"

"What is it Star?" Speedy asked warily as she finally set him on the ground.

"The holes of blackness. They are gone! I do not know what could have happened to make them disappear." She gasped in shock as she gazed upon the now vacant hilltop.

"Well, don't worry, we'll figure it out. --Maybe they just imploded." Speedy dusted himself off before placing his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, "Besides, this _is_ a good thing right? I thought you wanted them gone so that no one else would be hurt."

"I did," she stopped to consider what she was about to say, "It _is_ better that they are gone yes, but I cannot let go of the idea that maybe someday…if it came to this…I could go in after them. It is selfish I now, but I…"

"Star," Speedy cut in, "I know that you feel guilty being the one to stay behind when you believe that all of your friends are in danger, but you know that they wouldn't want you to put yourself in that kind of peril." He squeezed her shoulder a bit to reassure her, then continued, "You don't know what would've happened to you and you can do much more for them being here and alive than being, well, not here and…" he stopped himself before he uttered a word about her demise. She looked worried enough as it was.

"I know that you are right," she sighed, "but I do not know what I am supposed to do now. How am I supposed to help them? I do not even know if they are still alive!" She became entirely disheartened and Speedy could see the tears start to well up in her shining emerald eyes.

He turned her around to face him and held both of her shoulders in his hands, "You can help them by being here and watching over the city while they are away." Then he looked her straight in the eye so that she would pay close attention to what he had to say next, "Star? Will you do something for me?" She nodded, "Close your eyes and concentrate," she did as he asked so he continued, "You know in your heart what has happened to your friends. Can you feel them? Do you know that they are okay?"

He watched her face contort from sadness to confusion and finally to peace. "Yes," she said opening her eyes, "I can feel them. They are alive!"

He placed two fingertips on her heart, "Then hold on to that hope. For now, _that's_ what you can do." She seemed satisfied with this and brushed away the tears that had collected at the corners of her eyes.

Speedy was surprised upon hearing how touching the words actually sounded coming out of his mouth and he was more surprised that _he_ was the one saying these things. Usually he was far from a linguistics master, but around her, he found that the words just flowed easily. '_Whoa there Speedy! This is a crisis time for her and it won't last forever. You need to stop convincing yourself that you have a shot, cause you don't. Besides, she's vulnerable right now and taking advantage of that is so not what you're about._'

"Hello? Mr. Speedy? HELLO?" Starfire asked waving her hands about wildly in front of Speedy's face.

He blinked his eyes and quickly shook himself out of the daze he finally realized he was in, "Oh, sorry Star. I was just spacing."

"Spacing?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"Spacing out," he clarified.

"Spacing out?" she asked again.

"Don't worry about it Star," he didn't feel like clarifying further and it really wasn't that important anyway, so he just shrugged it off and turned to look around. "So, uh, there really _is_ nothing here, so I guess we should head back. How about, we try keep your life as normal as possible while still looking for ways to bring your friends back home okay?"

"Yes, I do believe that that would be best." Starfire declared, rising from the earth. She gripped Speedy, by the arm and only glanced back once at the tragic site before returning him to the tower.

* * *

"So, what is it that you normally do now?" Speedy inquired after they ate the meal he had prepared for them. (He'd learned his lesson after breakfast that morning…eggs and glorp, did not sit well in his stomach. So he decided on the bit more "traditional" cheese burgers and fries for lunch. Both of which of course Starfire drenched in mustard). 

Without hesitation Starfire informed him that they would do their training after lunch. "But I do not know how to work the machines," she announced sadly as they came upon the workout room.

"That's okay," Speedy declared, laying his quiver to the side and placing himself in the middle of a large blue mat. He waved Starfire over, "We can train the old fashioned way."

"But, Mr. Speedy, I do not wish to hurt you," Starfire protested.

Speedy shook his head at her reuse of the unneeded prefix, but decided to save his argument for something more productive, "Star, don't be afraid, you wont hurt me, and from what I've already seen of your skills, I won't have to worry about hurting _you_ much either."

"Oh but I _will_ Mr. Speedy!" Starfire gasped, once again trying to convince him, "You have to believe me. I am much stronger than I look!"

Speedy just smiled and shook off her protestations, "Star, am I gonna have to _make_ you fight me? Now come on and show me what you've got!" He was doing this as much for his benefit as hers. He really _did _want to see what she was made of, but he also wanted to show off for her and let her see what he could do as well. He backed away one step, positioned himself in a fighting stance, and waited for her to comply.

"Well okay, I will fight you," she started, mirroring Speedy's stance, "but I will not fly, as that would be an unfair advantage over you. And I will not utilize my full strength as that would also put you at a disadvantage."

She seemed resolute in this, so Speedy said no more. Instead, he calculated when to make his move as they circled each other, both waiting to see who would strike first.

In the end, surprisingly, it was Starfire who landed the first blow. Speedy was struck in the shoulder by a hard punch and was taken aback by the force behind it. When he saw Starfire's apologetic reaction to his shock, he took advantage of it and turned around his back to the right, to land a kick to her side. She was surprised by this, but quickly regained composure. Suddenly she burst forward with a barrage of flat-palmed thrusts to his chest. She struck left, then right, then left and Speedy had to dive to the floor to avoid them. From his place on the ground he flipped his legs around into a spinning kick, taking out one of her legs, while simultaneously bringing himself to a standing position.

He had not taken her out fully, he realized, she had kicked her good leg forward to catch herself which had caused her to fall into the splits, but she threw her front leg backward easily and did a summersault forward placing each foot on either side of his legs and quickly brining them together in an effort to make him regain his previous position on the floor. He jumped up, just inches above the scissor kick, happy he had been paying close attention. She popped back to her feet and they started to circle once more. "Well, that was an interesting start," Speedy quipped.

Starfire nodded, "If I am correct, neither of us has 'hit our stride' yet, yes?"

He nodded back, then lunged forward, yelling out an incomprehensible word as he flew through the air aiming a foot directly at her stomach. She anticipated his trajectory somehow and caught his foot just before it struck her. She threw him up and back, causing him to flip over once before catching himself on all fours. He looked up at her and she giggled for a split second. To her, he looked like a little red tree frog sticking to the floor, like ones that she had seen on the nature shows Beast Boy liked to watch. She caught herself however and started toward him once more with a devilish glint in her eye.

This time though, he was ready for her. He sprung up and dove over top of her rolling onto the floor behind her. She was surprised once again and turned around so quickly to find him, that she accidentally let a starbolt fly from her hand. It glanced off of his shoulder and flew past his chin, narrowly missing him, but still leaving a small burn mark on his cheek to show its path. It had also come at him at such an angle that it had seared through the fabric of his costume, causing the material to fold down on both sides, leaving his shoulder bare.

This time she really looked sorry and started towards him in an effort to fix her mistake. Speedy just laughed and did a series of back flips to thwart her advance. She took his cue and prepared herself for attack once again. This time it was she, yelling the incomprehensible syllables and flying through the air. She purposefully missed him, drawing his attention in one direction, while bringing her elbow into his side from the other. He recovered rapidly from this, but realized that his quick turn had caused the material of his shirt to slide enough to become a burden to him and his movements. He decided the best thing to do was to just remove it completely, and Starfire made no mention of a complaint to this.

They traded blows for some time before Speedy realized that Starfire had backed him up against a wall. She caught the side of his jaw with her balled fist and he ducked her next attack. He slid down and forward underneath her legs just to get out of her way, but as he started to get up from his position on the floor, he witnessed an amazing sight. As if she were in a sci-fi action movie, Starfire ran full speed at and up the wall, using it to hurtle her body backward through the air. She landed at Speedy's feet looking down at him for a quick second before bringing her fist down in one last devastating punch.

…Well, it _would _have been devastating had Speedy not shifted out of the way just in time. Her fist hit the mat with a dull thud, allowing Speedy just enough time to grab her arm and flip her over onto her back, now it was his turn to stand over her, waiting to throw the last punch, but before he could even think that far ahead, she kicked his legs out from under him, causing him to fall forward. Speedy stopped his body from landing on her just barely by catching himself with his forearms, as if he were doing a modified push up. They were positioned in such a way that Speedy's face was only inches from Starfire's, as she lay flat on her back.

Neither soul dared to move, for they knew that the fight would have to resume if they did. "I don't know where you learned to fight like that, but…wow!" Speedy whispered as his eyes flashed back and forth searching her own. She lay with her hair splayed out, tangled by the quick turns and movements of her fighting style. Her skin glistened from the intensity of the workout she had just endured. And he could feel her heart pound rapidly beneath him. He could not tell why he did what he did next, but he did not allow himself time to ponder that thought. As he inched his mouth toward hers, he felt every muscle in his body relax and his mind drifted off into a state of nothingness. He could feel his breath intertwine with hers as he closed his eyes to better feel her touch. He pulled closer to further his actions…

…Starfire turned her head in panic and hurriedly shoved him off of her. "The alarm!" She called out, "The city is in danger!"

All of his senses quickly came rushing back as the siren blared its echoing cry. As he lay on the floor, the space beneath him tauntingly empty from Starfire's absence, Speedy shook his head in disgust at it, but hurriedly followed her out of the room, remembering to grab his bow before heading out into the fray, '_So close…_'

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_So, now, you know what's coming…should I post it? Or shouldn't I?_

_Only you can prevent non-postage! _

_REVIEW!_

_(hehehe)_

_Though I do not profess to be great, I do not profess to suck either. -Me_


	10. A Rock and a Hard Place

_Sorry, I meant to update this yesterday, but well…I have no excuse. It was my own fault :duck's rocks: but I'm updating now though at least:stands and waits for adoration (hears crickets chirp in background):_  
_Fine…I shall just get on to chapter 10, you know you've all been waiting for this. Though I must warn you. You may like it, you may not. Advancing-the-story wise, it's a decent chapter, but writing wise, in MY opinion? It's probably my least favorite, but this is up to you to decide and not me. I at least hope that you enjoy it enough._

_BUT before I let you read and decide…THANK YOU's to everyone! And this time I had one request (from DWR ,Beth, and Lintilla), but I am afraid I am unable to grant that request at this time. Look for it in chapter 13 though! I must say that I do so enjoy that one…: **Techna, Cherry Jade **(of COURSE I forgive you!)**, me **(…cause I could! So who ARE you? hehe), **evilsangle, IoEuropa, CuTtErWiThAcAuSe **(yep, Star's a trip. That's the gist of it), **raven1777 **(yay! more new reviewers! –and no problem), **Lintilla **(glad you at least liked the Beast Girl!) and **hermie **and **MCD!**_

_**Stevem:** Yes, Starfire and her strength can kick almost anyone's butt, which is one of the reasons why she told Speedy that she would not use her full strength OR her power of flight. I wanted to make it a fair fight and I believe that it was. Also, you are correct. I did not spell somersault correctly. I actually added that part in when I was editing at the last second and did not think about it. I don't know if I've ever needed to actually spell that word before. (Thank you for your kind comments too by the way)._

_**Savvy: **missed you babe! Mwahahaha…yes I CAN do that! (hehe) and yes, I also think you can handle some more Rob/Rae! (you must!) _

_  
__**Bethany Elise: **I like Speedy myself. You know, I felt his best episode was just his first. He was so intense. They made him too wussy when they brought him back. I'm also overjoyed that you like my fight choreography. No, I did not study martial arts, but I love that type of thing. I try to make it as real as possible and just add in moves that I would want to see. A lot of it is just made up off the top of my head. And no, you shouldn't feel weird about trying the moves. I tried to write it so they would at least **seem **real. I try to map it out and envision it in my head. It's cool that you can do them though! (by the way, I'm a self professed dork, so don't feel so bad :wink:)._

_**Evilevergreen: **I made you laugh until you could laugh no more? YAY! I was so hoping that someone besides myself would find total and utter enjoyment in that line! (And no, it's not wrong to like the "sexy" Star better. I put my love into each and every character I write. If I did not enjoy them, I wouldn't write them so well). And you enjoyed my disclaimers as well? Hehe yay! And I must say, I could never have summed up the last few chapters so well: I don't know, but shouldn't she have thought of Robin? But then again, we all know what Robin is up to. --Post on!_

_**AaronFors:** Four times? Oh, you sweetheart! I keep feeling as though I can never get better comments from you and you keep surprising me! (not that you are condemned to read every chapter 4 times now…far from it). They fit together perfectly? And seem to be as flesh and blood humans (or otherwise in Star's case :wink:) That's wonderful! I really just wanted to make it so that everything that I write would seem as though it could actually happen. I'm so glad to hear that I'm able to pull that off. And yes. I CAN read your thoughts. Creepy huh? I know what you're thinking right now too…ooh, bad boy! (hehehe)_

…_On with the story!_

_Disclaimer: Okay, so I know I promised a real one this time, but I'm only human…these tend to suck up brain power that could be put to better use elsewhere! (Next time…maybe…if I feel like it).

* * *

_

_**A Rock and a Hard Place**_

Branches tore at Raven's face and her clothing. Rocks and debris punched tiny holes into her feet, but she didn't notice or even care. All she could think about was running away. Running away from her problems and running away from Robin. -Robin, the one who caused this problem in the first place. Robin, the one person she wanted to be closer to than anyone. The more she thought about it, the faster she ran. She knew that he would catch up to her eventually, not only because they were on an island and there really _was_ no where to escape to, but also because that was what he did best.

Nearing the point of exhaustion, she ducked inside a small crevice in between two rocks to catch her breath. She crawled deeper into the crevice hoping to muffle her tears. She didn't want Robin to find her, not yet, and especially not like this. As she crept further inside, she realized that it was much bigger than it seemed from the outside and she welcomed its emptiness as she spoke aloud, "Why did he have to do that? Why did you let him? –Well, you know why you let him…and you enjoyed it too! You did! Admit it. There's not one part of you that's sorry about it either. So what if it could hurt Starfire? She's not here is she? You have this gorgeous man -who looked DAMN good with streams of water running down his body. And when he threw his head back to shake the water off and the sun glistened off of the…mmm…and he's alone with you on a _deserted_ island! AND you have no pesky emotional side effects to worry about! You can't blow stuff up just cause you feel something strongly, so take advantage of that Raven!"

She really wanted to listen to _that_ voice, but alas there was another –annoyingly negative, but right- immediately following, "You can't count on things staying the way they are! What happens when you get back home? Are you just going to be able to suppress your powers then? And what about Starfire? She doesn't deserve this! She's your friend. And Robin? He's your leader! This is definitely going to screw _everything_ up!"

Once her tears had quieted (and she had rung out her hair and clothes), she decided to explore the cave that she'd unwittingly stumbled upon. The space inside was large enough for the two of them to sleep in comfortably; if she could remember where this was once they found their stuff again, she decided she would tell Robin. She noticed that there was also another tunnel leading outside, on the wall opposite her entrance point. '_That would be a quick way to lose Robin for a while,_' she thought. She could faintly see light, but would have to maneuver her way through it, as it was only just a crack.

Normally she would've just stayed in the cave, dismissing the idea because outside meant "light" and inside meant "darkness" (her old friend), but she was prodded by a rumbling in her stomach, which told her she hadn't eaten in quite some time. "Okay, okay!" she begrudged aloud, "Outside to find food it is."

She wriggled her way through the opening and once she was inside, she found that the light that she had thought she'd seen had been deceiving. She slid sideways, with her back against one wall and her hands feeling their way across the other in a near pitch-black environment. Eventually the crack widened a bit, allowing her room to breathe and she was starting to get the hang of it, when her lead foot slipped -no not slipped…missed. There was no ground beneath her now and she began tumbling downward. She grasped desperately at the rock, hoping that something would provide enough hold, but the wall just crumbled in her hand. She fell laterally, turning slightly and shoving her arms hard into the sides of the cave. She finally slowed her decent, but she was perched precariously –one foot on the floor of the tunnel and both arms pushing at the walls, desperately trying to hold her body up. She kept slipping slowly downward, losing balance as her arms began to tire. As she pushed at the rock to keep from sliding, she wished to all that was good, that she would have chosen to work out in the gym more often at home instead of focusing all of her energies on honing her mental skills. '_If I ever get out of this…bump **that** up a few priority rungs_,' she thought sarcastically. She didn't know how much longer she could keep this up, but she had to. She had to keep her arms steady or she was going to die.

She did not know what was below her. Only darkness showed itself. '_And **I'm** not supposed to be afraid of the dark,_' she chided, almost laughing in the face of her tragic circumstance. She was now parallel to the hole, her toe the only thing still gripping the actual floor. Her arms were shaking from the stress she was placing on them. '_I'm not going to be able to hold this much longer! What the hell am I going to do! Without my powers I'm useless! Damn it Raven! You could've just stayed and talked things out, but no! You had to run from your problems and now look! Look at what it's brought you! More problems. And now there's only one other person here that can save you. You need him Raven. Admit it before it's too late. You have to do it. You have to!_'

As her arms became numb, no longer able endure the strain, she called out for him. It was the last thing she remembered before falling into the darkness.

* * *

Robin watched Raven tear through the trees, droplets of water flying off of her as she sprinted. She was running away…running away from him. And he was just left to wonder what he'd done wrong as he chased after her. '_Everything was perfect. Everything was right. It felt right. Maybe I shouldn't have moved so fast, but I couldn't help it!_' 

He swam quickly to shore and dragged himself out of the lagoon and as he stood he shook off the excess water. He then flung his head back and ran his hands through his hair, allowing it to stay in place and out of his eyes. He knew that he had to get after Raven quickly, but he realized that he needed to get all of the liquid out of his utility belt first so that in case of an emergency, he would be well prepared. '_Besides,' _he thought as he whipped out and shook off his grappling hook, '_it will be easier to track her movements from above._' He shot it out into the cliff that they had decided to dive off of earlier and climbed up over the ledge. He quickly grabbed their pack and moved back to the edge to watch where Raven was headed.

She was nearly out of sight already, and he knew that he had to be moving. So, like Tarzan swinging from vine to vine, Robin would take off running, shoot out one grappling hook and swing from a tree or a cliff or whatever was handy. As soon as he would almost reach his destination, he would shoot his auxiliary grappling hook and release the first. After a few hundred feet of this he was finally in a great position to see Raven. He wrapped himself around a tree trunk and observed her. '_Well, her movements are erratic, but that is to be expected. She's distraught, though I don't know why…she enjoyed that as much as I did –Stop it Robin! You can't worry about that right now; just think about following Raven and getting to her before anything bad happens. You haven't even had a chance to explore this island…you don't know what's out there._'

She finally slowed and he watched as she disappeared into what appeared to be just a large rock. He didn't like not being able to keep an eye on her so he took a path down to where he had seen her last. As he approached the rock, the first thing he heard were her sobs echoing off of the walls. He felt a pang of guilt in his stomach as he listened to her cry. He knew that she needed to be alone, but right then, he would've given _anything_ to make her stop. Through the tears he caught the occasional word as she mumbled to herself, "**_Admit it!_**" "Admit what?" he murmured…"**_no emotional side effects_**"…"**_take advantage of that_**"…at this point he could tell that she was wrestling with herself over what to do, though he couldn't tell which side was winning. She paused for a moment, but what he heard next, made even _him_ start to wrestle within himself, "**_what about Starfire?_**" The realization that that sentence brought, finally hit him… '_What **about** Starfire? I love her, or at least I **think** I do…but if I really did, then why would what I did with Raven feel so right? Starfire is beautiful and funny and so sweet and we've shared some moments, but…I don't think any of them have felt as…**intense** as what I shared with Raven. And we **are** stuck on a deserted island, with no hope at this point of ever getting home. If I don't act on my instincts right now, I would be betraying myself, and everything I stand for_.'

His thoughts stopped abruptly, as he realized that he could no longer hear Raven. Neither her voice nor her cry emitted from the small opening in the rock. He leaned closer, just to make sure his ears weren't playing tricks on him. When he again heard no sound he decided that it would be okay for him to go inside and talk to her, or at least check on her. '_She has to be in pain from running through the terrain like she did. I need to mend her wounds._' He snaked his way through the crack that was the opening, and found himself inside of a small cave. He looked around the "room" with what little light was available and came to the quick realization that she wasn't there anymore.

Even though he didn't know it, he had the same fleeting thought as Raven, '_When I find her, I'll suggest that this would be a good place to sleep tonight._ _Now, where could she have gone?_' He looked more closely and found a dark spot in the dirt where her tears had dried. He scanned the ground next to it, and found a set of small footprints. He followed them to another crack, opposite the wall he had entered through. This one delved even deeper into the cave it seemed. He couldn't really see into it, but he believed that Raven must have gone in, in search of a way out… '_Probably to get away from me_,' he reasoned with a hint of disgust at himself and a large sigh. '_Well, I shall have to go in blindly feeling my way, but I guess, where she leads, I will follow…just this once._'

Without realizing, he once again mimicked Raven by placing his back against one side of the wall and shuffling his hands and feet, guiding himself through the darkness. He was moving faster than she had however because he was much more adept at those skills. After about 800 feet, he was wondering whether or not he would ever find her and whether this tunnel really did lead to the outside. Just then, he heard a small yelp echo back at him off the walls. '_Raven!_' He quickened his pace, not paying any attention to where his hands and feet were going. The only thing on his mind at that moment was finding her. He knew she was in trouble. He could feel it. And his thoughts were racing through every possible thing that could happen to her. '_Why did she do this? She should know better. Why did **I** do this? --SHUT UP! Just hurry up and get to her!_"

"**ROBIN!**" The pain, fear, and pure need that he heard in her voice as she gave up her hold, mere feet away, was enough to make his heart drop into his stomach. In desperation, he dove forward, not realizing there was no longer ground beneath him.

* * *

_So, what did you think? Decent? Totally sucked? What?  
__I promise that three chapters from now you will all get what you want (and **I** should know right?)_

_REVIEW please!  
__Must I get out my talisman and hypnotize you all?  
__Okay fine:swings shiny gold watch: You are all chickens!_

_Though I do not profess to be great, I do not profess to suck either! -me_


	11. Double Indemnity

Okay, well, it seems as though there were some thumbs ups, some thumbs downs for the last chapter, but that's okay…I enjoyed writing it no matter what. And now there's just ANOTHER chapter to wet your appetites!  
Okay, I'm not really feeling all "inspired" at this exact moment, so y'all just get to get to the story even quicker!  
**THANK YOU'S!** (with no presents I might add…does no one want anything? What is this world coming to? No greed? No immoral standards to live up to? Gees people! Could you be any more lacking! ;) )to: **They call me Sweetsnow** (cute word pic!), **raven1777**(it was really what!), **Cherry Jade, DarkWindingRose **(I know…I'm just mean), **evilsangle, Evilevergreen, Teen Titans Obsessor**(you are so cute, and too apologetic!), **CuTtErWiThAcAuSe, **and **hermie!**

**cyberclock000: **Oh, I'm so sorry about your (expletive deleted) week. Well, I shall try to get to reading your story as soon as I can then! It's been a couple of _long_ weeks for me as well…

**Savvy:** Yay! I'm so glad I could make your birthday more "special" as it were. I hope this one will only add to the excitement and turmoil and tension! (So how does it feel to not be a teenager anymore?) 

**Bethany Elise: **Well, I hope I shall not disappoint with the "interaction" between characters in this and subsequent chapters. I like it too, it's just that this particular chapter needed the separation.

**Aaronfors: **Perfect "me" fashion huh? Hehehe. And I made you squeal! Yay:dies from the happiness vibes: I'm so very glad that you liked this chapter. And yes, I was as you so very subtly put it, drawing out the tension so that the next interaction would seem all the more special. And Thank you once again for reminding me of the phrase "double entendre". I _know_ I will use that more often now.

Disclaimer: I do not own 'Teen Titans'. If I did, I wouldn't be writing fan fics. I'd be writing episodes! –So, uh…duh.

Oh! And bonus for you all! This is not ONLY a BB/Cy Chapter, but it's a Star/Speedy chapter as well! I'm just too good to you, I know…

* * *

**Double Indemnity**

As the pair reentered the tower, they heard shouting and taunting coming from the main room, so they ran in to investigate and discovered this unusual sight: Beast Boy had had enough of being tested on and was now engaged in a morphing contest with Beast Girl.. Beast Girl morphed into a llama, then Beast Boy shifted into an elephant just to top her, so Beast Girl became a T-Rex to get a one up on him. Finding that anything that he changed into would be too big for the tower to accommodate, Beast Boy then changed himself into a humming bird, so of course Beast Girl just _had_ to top that and morphed into a lovely green ladybug, but Beast Boy got _her_ this time and switched to a tiny fruit fly. Once she saw that she couldn't go any smaller and still be able to be seen, Beast Girl transformed into something else and Beast Boy tried to best her again, all the while taunting each other, saying how each animal was "lame" and "there's no way you can top me!" and so on…

Cyborg and Starfire let this go on for a few minutes (giggling and snickering the whole time), before they broke up the "festivities". Cyborg grabbed Beast Boy and dragged him off in one direction and Starfire grabbed Beast Girl and dragged her off in a separate direction.

"I so had you!"

"You so did not!"

Came two replies instantaneously, one after another in unison, followed by two long and drawn out raspberries by each of the "competitors" and a "hmph!" that echoed throughout the room as each sat on an opposite arm of the couch, facing away from each other.

After a few minutes of coaxing and pleading with them to make up, all that either Cyborg or Starfire could do was throw up their hands in disgust. And as they exited the main room in search of the others, just before the door closed fully, they heard:

"Rematch!"

"You're on!"

* * *

"Well, since Cy couldn't find anything of use," Starfire said later in the library, shooting a look of exasperation at him, causing him to shrug apologetically, "Ted, _please_ tell me you've got something?" 

"Well, it's a very unique situation. I've scanned every database that I can think of for occurrences such as this and I've come up with nothing," Ted stated, pushing back his glasses and tapping a few keys on the keyboard to illustrate his point, "Then I cross referenced the Migdali file on irrational modifications of black holes with the discrepancies of the time-space continuum and I still found no record of any case of anyone being transported to a different dimension without the help of a Griacci ritual."

"The hooby-what-y file? And the "gazpacho" ritual?" Cy questioned scratching his head, "What the heck you talkin' about Ted?"

Cyborg nodded his own head in agreement. "I'm with him," he declared shaking his thumb toward Cy, "What the heck _are_ you talking about?"

"English translation? -He can't find anything and he doesn't know how you got here or why," Raven stated as she crept out of the shadows, "And _I_ couldn't find how or why you came here either." She finally flipped down her hood, prompting Cyborg to once again stare in shock at the stark pinkness of the hair, which he knew _his_ Raven would never tolerate.

"So, what are we going to do about getting home then?" Cyborg sighed.

Starfire looked everyone in the eye before stepping up and revealing her plan, "Well, what I think we should do first is…" But she never got to finish her sentence. -Although she was visibly annoyed at being cut off by the blaring alarm system, she gathered herself quickly and shouted out the order for everyone to head to their stations.

"BG, I need the suspect and the locale, now! What do you got?" She yelled out as she flew into the main room carrying Ted, in her arms (though an outside observer would never have guessed, considering that he had disappeared once again). The two Cyborg's ran behind her through the open door and Raven casually appeared out of thin air, pulling her hood back up as she waited to hear the news.

Beast Girl stopped her still-ongoing one-upping contest with Beat Boy and ran to the computer. Starfire shouted out more orders, "Cy, get the car. Rae, Cyborg, follow him and I'll update you of where to go on the way. BB you follow me. –BG! What's up?"

"We got us a live one!" she hollered back, hands flying at 1000 miles per hour as the screen zeroed in on a little yellow dot, "Down near the old stadium."

"Who?"

"Can't pinpoint 'em."

"Well, then what's our ETA?" Starfire half questioned, half demanded as she flew out an open window.

"30 minutes or less!" Beast Girl responded jokingly, just before shifting her frame into a flying squirrel and jumping out into the air behind Star.

"Oh, ha ha ha…" Beast Boy mocked when he finally got the joke, but by then it was too late for anyone to hear anyway so he begrudgingly morphed into pterodactyl form and followed.

* * *

...

* * *

Speedy and Starfire arrived downtown not minutes later. They'd left in such a hurry that Speedy barely had enough time to grab a spare shirt. He was still pulling it over his head as Starfire set him on the ground. 

They both stepped back to gape in awe at the destruction around them. An entire brick building lay in shambles and another was ablaze with flame; hundreds of people screamed in vain for aid that may never come.

"We must do something to help them!" Starfire yelled out as she flew toward one of the windows, grabbing an entire family of four and pulling them far away from the flames. Speedy's mind sifted through ideas at lightning speed. He settled on one that seemed promising and whipped out an arrow. He shot towards the building, but before it hit the brick, it seemed to bloom like a flower, letting out a large net and suctioning its corners to the building and two metal light poles.

"Jump!" he yelled out to a few of the adults as he shot out another of his arrows. This one stuck in the mortar between the brick and held a length of rope-which he climbed up and used to run back and forth over the wall grabbing the small children in one arm and hauling them to the ground below.

It seemed to them as though it had taken an hour, but it was merely minutes before they had evacuated the entire building. -Just in time as it turned out. The building crumbled behind them as the victims dusted themselves off and ran to find their family members.

"That was a close one," Speedy quipped as he ran toward the perpetrator of the horrendous destruction. Starfire flew forward and rained down scores of starbolts; each one she threw let out her anger and rage, as if she were cursing him with each burning flash of jade.

Speedy realized that with the type of demon they were fighting, her starbolts wouldn't do a thing, but he knew that he had the perfect arrow for this sort of occasion. He drew it from his quiver and placed it onto his bow. He drew back with all of his might. The anticipation of watching this guy squirm was making him almost giddy as the image of his defeat flashed through Speedy's mind. Just as he was about to loose the arrow upon his opponent, he stopped –frozen in mid strike.

Starfire had foreseen Speedy's plan and awaited the onslaught of arrows that she knew was coming, but was shocked to witness Speedy's momentary lapse. '_Come on_!' she thought, '_Give this evil thing what he has coming to him!_' But as the seconds passed by, she realized that something was very wrong. "Speedy!" she called out, finally getting his name right, though neither cared enough to notice at that moment, "Speedy! What is wrong?" She steered herself towards him hoping to better assess the severity of his situation. As she got closer, she saw that it was even worse than she had anticipated.

Currents of electricity coursed through his body affixing it to the concrete, but not enough to cause him to visibly shake -yet. He was in serious pain, but couldn't do one thing to stop it. The flow of electricity caused welts to arise on his fingertips and he could feel the heat coursing through his stomach and causing his blood to literally boil. The electricity ran over the outside of his body too, cutting into his flesh at vulnerable points and holding his mouth shut so that the flow could not be broken. It tore at his clothing, singeing the fabric, causing it to rip in many places. If the situation had warranted it, he would have made a joke about not really needing that spare shirt, but as it was, he screamed internally in agony as the blisters multiplied and his body gave out.

Starfire did not know what to do. She could hear his muffled cries of pain and she knew what a current of that magnitude could do to a human, but she was never taught how to amend such a thing. Her body sprung into action before her mind could even come up with a plan. She flew full speed at the villain in the hope of using her body as a battering ram and distracting him long enough to free Speedy from his grasp. It was of no use however. Whatever she tried, failed to divert his attention and only caused him to laugh heartily at her expense.

Starfire was at a loss. She had to do something quickly or Speedy would die. In a last ditch effort, she flew full tilt at Speedy, this time trusting that her strength would at least release him from his assailant's grasp.

Just before she reached the suffering boy, the villain finally released his hold. It was knocked out from behind by a powerful force that Starfire could not see and she altered her acceleration just in time. As she swooped to catch the fallen Speedy, Starfire neither knew, nor cared who or what had done it. All that she cared about was that it had been done. She left the villain and carried Speedy home. She needed to concentrate on healing this boy whom she'd come to care about so much. He was the last thing she had in the world… '_And you are **not** going to leave me too!_'

* * *

_So, are you intrigued yet? _

_What will happen to poor Speedy? Will the childish games between BB and BG ever end? And when the HECK will Rob and Rae get some action?_

_Oooooh...you will ONLY know if you review!_

_Though I do not profess to be great, I do not profess to suck either! -me_


	12. Playing Rough

_Hey all! I'm sosososososososososososooooooooo sorry about not updating sooner. I've had a rough past few days involving a long trip and a now lost love…sigh. So, at least I have you guys to perk up my spirits right?_

_To those of you who wondered what the heck happened to Speedy (since a couple of you did) he was electrocuted…horribly. Now, I do not know for certain what goes on when that happens to people, but I believe that I've heard that it is at least akin to what I have described._

_Well, now on to the THANK YOU's then on to the chapter: **They call me sweetsnow **(-m), **evilsangle, IoEuropa, Cherry Jade, TeenTitansObsessor, Raven1777, T-birds-AM **(hey newbie! Glad to have you reading!),and as always…**hermie!**_

_**DarkWindingRose: **The joke that BG was making was sort of like –we'll arrive in 30 minutes or less!- you know, like Domino's used to say about a pizza delivery and BB was like, "Oh ha ha…" all sarcastically. Hope that helps!_

_**Savvy: **Dagnabit! (hehehe) Cutie. Anyway, I can totally relate! When I turned 20 I was like… "Uh, uh, uh…I'm…uh…crud, uh yeah 20!" Though I didn't run away ;). Hope I can make this an even better "follow up present" for you!_

_**BethanyElise:** There are 14 chapters! So, yes, I WILL be wrapping it up soon, but not at this second…and yes I DID put a lot of thought into the ending. I hope you enjoy it, but at the same time, I hope it catches you off guard!_

_**Steve m: **I do not mind your "criticisms" one bit. Really. I do need that as well. I've always said I'm not a great writer, but I would like to improve. And by the way, there was a specific reason why I did not give more description of the monster that Star and Speedy were fighting and you should most likely see why in this chapter! But I do thank you! Had I not done that for a specific reason, you would have been more than correct._

_And once more this is a double-threat chapter as it were, with both a BB/Cy and a Star/Speedy setting. Robin and Raven are next chapter._

_Disclaimer: Though I do not claim to be great, OR to suck, I do not claim to own Teen Titans either!_

_

* * *

**Playing Rough**_

The motley crew of a team arrived at the old stadium within minutes. Though now it was not only decrepit –as were the rest of the buildings in the city, it was on fire as well. A loud zap emitted from behind the group and they turned to face the cause of the destruction -all but Cy, who unfortunately had been hit by the calculated blast, which short circuited his hardware, causing him to shut down right in front of them. A pissed off Raven mentally transported his oddly posed body to an out of the way spot and tried, but failed to revive him.

"Overload!" Starfire and Cyborg yelled in unison while also bracing in a back-to-back mirrored fighting stance. They barely took one glance at each other, but both were reassured by the fact that their butts were covered if they got into too much trouble.

Beast Boy stood in shock, "Dude! He looks exactly the same as back home!"

Raven stepped forward, speaking with pronounced anger, "Good. Then you can easily help us kick his ass."

Beast Boy raised an eyebrow at her blatant show of emotion (well, for her…), but just shrugged and shifted into a triceratops (he'd played with one too many "action figures" in his time _not_ to enjoy changing into dinosaurs more than anything). Not to be outdone -even in the midst of tragedy (of course), Beast Girl morphed into a triceratops as well and they both looked over at each other and winked before blowing past the others and rampaging down the street toward Overload.

Ted watched in terror from the sidelines (though no one could really tell) as they charged from both sides, temporarily knocking the giant sparking beast from his task of randomly setting buildings aflame. He noticed that once Overload realized that they were a threat however, he set his sights on them and as they ran toward him a second time, he swung his right arm and backhanded them hard sending them flying though the air. The pair landed in a pile of garbage bags, Beast Boy on the bottom with a frazzled Beast Girl, only half conscious in his lap. He picked an old banana peel from his forehead and tossed it to the side before helping Beast Girl to her feet to see if she was okay.

In the meantime, the others had picked up the slack. Cyborg shot his laser cannon repetitively at Overload's shoulder hoping to distract him long enough for someone else to attack. And Starfire was gladly assuming the position to hand out some major hurt. Cyborg was having a hard time not being distracted himself just watching her. In her tight red leather uniform, she made quite the spectacle.

He knew full well that she could soar above its hulking body and rain down destruction from above if she wanted to, but at the moment, she looked as though she wanted to toy with him for a bit. She sprinted forward and called out to Raven. As she cut through the air, she trusted completely in her friend to do as she'd instructed. She used the now solid black disc that Raven had placed beneath her feet as a springboard to propel herself toward the monster. In mid jump, she contorted her body in such a way that she flipped upside down while at the same time allowing her legs twirl as if she were a propeller. She got in not one, not two, but three good kicks before landing on the ground and kicking him in the shins once more for good measure. She ducked a swing of his arm and dodged a bolt of electricity by executing an aerial back flip and landing in the splits. From this position she shot forth two good-sized starbolts. Unfortunately, neither fazed him, but Star was ready for this. She had already taken a running start at the giant and used her unbounded strength to push his leg from underneath him causing him to fall to his knees. Starfire was almost crushed in the process, but looked satisfied with herself as she rolled away and rose to her feet. She brushed her arm across her face wiping away the sweat and removing a few stray hairs from her vision. "Okay, that was fun!" she sighed breathlessly.

Her joy was short lived however as Overload recovered quickly and was now angrier and more determined than ever. He shot random bolts of electricity toward the three visible teammates and laughed heartily as the first one connected with Starfire's leg rendering it useless and at the same time setting it slightly aflame. Raven and Cyborg gasped in horror, but could not move toward her because Raven had to keep throwing out her shield to block each attack for fear they would become barbequed versions of themselves as well.

Cyborg watched Starfire drag herself out of the beast's path and attempt to put out her leg, all the while trying to hide her pain and he could stand it no longer, '_I must get out there and help her!' _He ran forward, but was pushed back with a clang as he hit full force with a shield Raven had quickly produced.

"You idiot! Do you want to get yourself killed?" she yelled as he rubbed the fleshy part of his head.

"But," he started, gesturing toward Starfire trying to accentuate the seriousness of the moment.

"She can handle herself!" Raven yelled cutting him off. She swished her hand to the right to block another flash of electricity and had to quickly change her direction once again as she blocked a second errant one from behind.

"I don't even know if _we_ can right now Rae!" Cyborg shot back, "Just let me out on three."

"No."

Cyborg's voice boomed with almost venomous intent, "Raven! The flames are spreading. She's going to die! I can't just stand here and do nothing!"

"Fine," she growled in compliance, "On three, we'll _both_ make a run for her, and I'll shield us as quickly as I can."

He finally allowed the tension in his face to ease, but only slightly, "Thank you."

"One…" she started, "two…" at three, they ran full tilt toward Starfire, but it seemed that they needn't have tried so hard, as at that moment that luck was on their side. The electrified menace turned away from them, looking as if he were concentrating on an entirely separate entity.

It barely registered to Cyborg that the savage fiend was ignoring them. The only thing that he was concerned about at that moment was whether or not Raven could heal Starfire's leg. When it was finally decided that she could, he eased back and ventured a look toward the beast. Cyborg's face garnered a quizzical look as he observed Overload dodging invisible blasts and flinging his arms at nothing in particular, '_What is he doing? Nobody's there. Why is he flinching? What is he reacting to? –And I'd bet anything it's not Ted…' _

Finally Overload's flailing ceased and he seemed to be throwing all of his concentration into one single entity that Cyborg himself could not see. The hellion roared with laughter as if in triumph, though over what Cyborg could still not tell. He turned his attentions back to Starfire and her now singed, but not too entirely incapacitated leg. He smiled at her and helped her to her feet, slinging her arm over his shoulder so that she could use him as her own personal crutch.

In the midst of everything, Raven had seen the odd behavior of the demon and had concocted a plan. "Ted, I know you're out there," she called out, "I need your help _now_ you little scaredy cat!" She barely caught sight of him as he flicked into existence for a split second then flicked back out, but it was enough to notice where he had been standing. She stomped over, grabbed him by (what she assumed and prayed to be) his collar, and got straight to the point, "I know you're scared out of your mind right now, but I need you to do one thing for me, alright? I need you to be a hero." She heard a slight rustling sound and understood it to be him nodding so she forged ahead, "I need you to distract Overload. Get next to him and throw a rock at him or something so that when he turns, I can attack him from behind." She could sense strong feelings of doubt and knew what she had to say next. '_Though this pains me to no end_…' She sighed, "I know you can do this. We're all counting on you." Then for good measure, she threw in, "_Starfire_'s counting on you."

He flicked back into existence long enough for her to see a glimmer of courage in his eyes, so she let go of his garment. '_Go get 'em tiger_,' she thought sarcastically before focusing her energies on her next attack. She cleared her mind and recalled the spell she needed. Then all she had to do was wait for Ted's signal.

He did a much better job than she had anticipated _and_ much more quickly. She barely had time to say an 'Azarath Metrion Zinthos' to call up her powers before executing the much larger _Azarath Okai_ - "eye of the hurricane"- spell. It didn't quite work as she had hoped. It caught Overload off guard and knocked him completely unconscious yes, but as a side effect it also knocked Raven unconscious for a time. Fortunately for her, the backfire allowed her time to contemplate within her psyche. So when she came-to to see five eager faces staring down at her from above, she half-smiled as she announced, "I know how to get you home."

* * *

...

* * *

Starfire did not wait around to see Overload's defeat. Instead she scooped Speedy's limp body from the ground and flew him to the tower at speeds which she had never dared attempt before. As she laid him on the cot in the medical room, she looked down at his pale, almost lifeless features and tears began to form in her emerald eyes. She stopped herself however, brushing them away before any fell. "I need not cry yet. Not when I may still do something for him," she stated aloud. 

Starfire's eyes darted around the room taking in all of the knobs and wires and metal doohickeys. She did not even know how to begin hooking up the equipment with which she was supposed to monitor the boy. '_Oh, I am –if my earth phrasing is correct- "in way over my head"! I cannot do this,_' she concluded bitterly. But as with her tears, she brushed those thoughts aside and set her mind to more optimistic thinking, '_Starfire, you must! You are his only hope…and at this moment, he is yours_.' She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and concentrated. She sifted through her mental pictures and pulled up an image of Robin lying on the same cot after an attack from Slade. '_Robin!_' her mind screamed, momentarily recalling other times that she had shared with him. '_Robin is gone. Speedy needs your help now!'_ she recalled as she begrudgingly pushed that thought away and focused on the placement of each piece of equipment -where it was, what it did, and how to connect it properly. After five minutes of intense scrutiny in her mind of the details, she set to work.

Half an hour later, Speedy was absorbing liquids through an IV in his arm and his heart rate was being closely monitored by his red headed nursemaid. She could tell that his pulse was weak and rapidly fading and she tended to him as best she could, but she did not know what else to do for him. '_There are some remedies of Tamaran that I could apply, but I do not believe any of them would heal this severe of an injury. Oh, if only I were able to heal as Raven heals!_' After an hour of intense care and a constant decline in response, the machine's steady beat was replaced by one long echoing tone.

"You cannot do this!" Starfire asserted to no one in particular. She curled her fingers around his shoulders and pulled her body closer to him, laying her head on his chest as the tears began to flow freely, "You cannot take him too! I am not meant to be alone!"

As if in response to her cries, the machine resumed it's rhythmic pattern once again and in that last moment of hope, Speedy whispered clearly, "Star, you will never be alone. I will be with you always." The last breath escaped from his body as the line once again ran unbroken.

* * *

_Oh goodness! Did I just have Speedy die? Why yes, yes I did.  
That is so sad!_

_Do you believe? Do you believe in Speedy? Clap your hands if you believe! Go on…clap! Maybe, just maybe…he'll come back to her safely…_

_Or maybe I'm just mean and sadistic and he won't.  
_Either way…

_Review darn you!  
_…_or you will not get to read the Rob/Rae awesomeness._


	13. Birds of a Feather

_Well, I know you all are shocked and mayhaps dismayed at the events of the last chapter. Let us all take a moment of silence to remember our lost friend…Speedy, you were gone from us too soon.  
__Rest in Peace. ?-2005 –He saved the world – A lot.  
__(Yes, that is an homage to Buffy, but when will I ever be able to do that again?)._

_So, I guess THANK YOU's are in order for those of you who just happened to catch my last chapter. It was only a small amount of you dedicated readers this time, but I just love any of you that did review, so HUGS for you all: **Tritium, Techna, IoEuropa **(Oh, I have much in mind!), **yeah…, CuTtErWiThAcAuSe, evilsangle, Cherry Jade, **and **MCD.**_

_**They call me sweetsnow: **hehehe…were you clapping for me? Or for Speedy? Cause if you were clapping for Speedy, that was a sad attempt at getting him to live…anyway, hope I do not disappoint with the "awesomeness"._

_**Raven1777:** Thank you for your kind sentiment. It's just been a long hard road for me and now it has come to a heart wrenching conclusion. I really do appreciate the support. And thank you also for calling this a kick ass story! Though I do not think I'm a great writer, I do try to entertain!_

_**TeenTitansObsessor: **You are so cute. You really shouldn't worry so much. None of the reviews I've gotten from you are "stupid reviews". I always appreciate each and every one!_

_Now comes the somewhat long-awaited chapter for at least a few of you all. Yes, this is Rob/Rae and yes, there is SOME fluff, but you know me…I'm not much of a "fluff writer". I like to write it more "real", but don't get me wrong, I don't mind reading fluff, so I have tried my best to produce a tiny amount for y'all. I hope to not disappoint._

_Disclaimer: Roses are red, (yes) Violets are blue, (yes) I do not own Teen Titans, -if I did, I would certainly tell you!_

_

* * *

**Birds of a Feather**_

Raven awoke with a headache to the sounds of quiet grunting at her feet. She lifted her head from the pillow of cloth that it had been resting on and looked down to see Robin putting the finishing touches on a bandage that he had wrapped around her ankle. "What are you…?" she started, but stopped as she began to feel woozy midway through her question. She started to faint, but Robin anticipated this and caught her head before she thumped into the floor.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy Raven. That's a bad bump you've got there already and I don't think you need another. Until we can figure out just how bad it is, you should just lie back down, alright?" Without even looking away from her, he laid her gently back on the makeshift pillow and smiled.

Raven was too tired and achy to argue so she allowed it to happen, but spoke once again when the spinning stopped, "Okay Wonder Boy, but answer me one thing…how the hell am I still alive? The last thing I remember is nothing but darkness and eminent death." Of course, even while she said these words –which would register fear on anyone else's face, her expression was one of near boredom.

"Oh you know me," Robin shrugged playfully as he tended to her other wounds, "always saving people from disastrous situations," he turned to raise his eyebrow and give her a half smile, "…even one's they create for themselves."

She chuckled a bit at her foolishness and sighed, "Fine, I get the point. But really, what happened?"

"I heard you call out to me so I tried to run to you, but slipped into the same chasm that you had inauspiciously found," He began to illustrate his story with large hand gestures (mostly as entertainment to lift her spirits, but it was useful anyway), "I could barely see as I plummeted to my doom, so I flicked out a flare-disk and I caught sight of you out of the corner of my eye. You weren't moving or screaming and I knew something was wrong so I had to think quickly to save both of our lives. Thank goodness I had these baby's with me!" he patted his grappling hooks, which were now resting on the floor inside his utility belt, "I shot one toward you then I shot one back into the cave, _hoping_ that it would catch on something and luckily it did. The rest is really just a whirlwind."

Raven placed her hand on top of his now non-animated one, "Thank you Robin."

"No," he responded, "thank you."

She was rightly taken aback, "What?"

"Thank you."

"I heard that part," she rolled her eyes in frustration, "Why?"

He shifted his body so that he was leaning on one elbow and draping the other arm across her stomach, playing with a torn edge of her shirt. As he gave his reply, he looked directly into her eyes, "For trusting me to be there."

Raven's face flushed against her will, but she recovered quickly, "You know that I've always trusted you with my life Robin. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have asked you to be on the team."

"That's not exactly what I meant," Robin leaned closer turning her cheek delicately with his fingers. Her eyes closed as she felt her lips part instinctively, but before she became too caught up in the moment and before he could bring his lips to hers, Raven came to her senses and quickly changed the subject.

"So, wait a minute…what are we doing here?"

"Excuse me?" Robin questioned, too startled to regain his mental capacities quickly enough to come up with a better reply.

"I mean this place," she gestured around the room as much as she could in her condition, "I just noticed that we are lying on a thatched rug, on a wooden floor, next to a roaring fire."

"Oh, this?" he was fully prepared for a totally different question, but was pleasantly surprised at this, "After I dragged us out of the cave I found my way out the other side. You know, the opening _you_ were headed for?" she gave him a threatening look so he moved on quickly, "Well, once I got out, I saw this shack. I checked it out and there was a distinct layer of dust on everything; no one had been in here in a while. So it seems that the island wasn't uninhabited at one point, but now it looks like it's just the two of us."

"Well, at least we don't have to sleep in a cave again tonight," Raven shrugged, looking on the bright side for once.

Robin chuckled, "Yeah, and guess what?"

Raven raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"There's a hammock in here as well. So I can get you up off the floor tonight!" he smiled as he stood, wiping the dust from his shirt.

"No really Robin, I'm pretty useless as it is. You might as well let me stay on the floor and then you can get some good rest so you can go out and gather things we'll need tomorrow," Raven stated seriously.

But Robin would have none of it. He held up his hand to quiet her speech. "Raven, I don't need it and you do. That's that. Besides," he started with a sigh, "You know I'd give it to you anyway and you know how stubborn I can be." He winked at her and moved to the door, "I'll just try to make another one for myself tomorrow. Right now, I'm gonna go get us some food cause goodness knows I'm starving!"

Even though she wanted to protest once again, Raven knew he was right. Instead, she grasped her now growling stomach, "Good idea." She looked around the room and then down at herself, "I guess I'll just wait here then."

"You'll do no such thing!" Robin protested, turning back. He bent down and easily scooped her up in his arms, "I've taken such 'pains' in making up your bed, you may as well rest there while I make dinner for you."

As he entered the bedroom, she looked at the hammock and smiled. He had placed a makeshift blanket on the bottom of it so that it would be more comfortable for her to sleep in. After he laid her down, he ran back to the living room and grabbed the "pillow" to place under her head. "You're too good to me," Raven spoke. She really did mean it. She didn't deserve such treatment after the hellish day she had put him through.

He closed his eyes, tilted his head down, and held his hand out which meant: "don't worry about it" and then he left.

Raven awoke from a drowsy sleep a while later to a fruity smell that wafted into her room. Robin came in seconds later holding a "plate" full of freshly cut assorted island fruits. "Sorry I didn't get any protein today," he said, placing the food on her lap, "I just wanted to get back here to you as quickly as possible. Tomorrow, I shall venture back to the ocean and see what sort of fish I can catch and grill us for supper." He seemed proud of himself and Raven and her growling stomach thanked him immensely.

After finishing what to Raven seemed to be the most delicious meal of her life, she looked over to see Robin dragging the thatched rug into the room with him. He set it perpendicular to the wall and sat down on it, shoving the remainders of Raven's cape behind his back before leaning against the wall. He interlaced his fingers behind his head and kicked one leg over the other. "So…how are things?" he said with a grin, obviously making light of their situation.

Raven picked up on the sarcasm and joined in, "Oh just splendid…and yourself?"

They both laughed and Robin began to ask Raven about her time on earth, mainly the time before she was a Titan as that was the time when Robin had not known her. Interestingly enough, she began to talk openly about it; she also went into how life was for her on Azarath as well as her life with the Titans. Having Robin to listen and actually be interested in what she was saying just made her feel even more like she was free from all of the emotional bonds that held her back in life. Someone was asking her about who she was -and for once, they cared to hear the answers.

When she was through and had answered all of his supplemental questions, Raven graciously lent Robin her shoulder to talk about his life and what caused him to become the man she saw sitting by her today. While listening, she realized that his life was as almost as complicated as hers, though in a different way. She had seen into his mind before, but that was mostly prying. It was different to hear the words come out of his mouth.

Before long, they were talking about a multitude of things from Robin's plans for a technological redo of the workout room, to Beast Boy's annoying antics. After a few hours and a couple of sore stomachs from laughing so hard, Robin spoke to Raven more seriously, "Rae, this morning, in the lagoon, I swear I didn't mean you any harm. I wasn't even planning for it to happen. I know how you think I feel about Starfire, but when I kissed you, I meant every feeling that I expressed and I think you sensed it too –even without your powers."

"Robin," she started…but as she turned to look down at him, she felt that something wasn't right. So she motioned him over to her, "Robin, come up here."

He looked shocked but did as he was told. Luckily there was ample room for him to climb into the hammock next to her. She turned to him and looked into his eyes, "I know you meant everything that you think you felt for me. But Robin, this isn't real. This isn't us. We're in a setting where you think that you have no other choice and you just gravitated to the only other person around. You know that there's no way that you could feel these things for me, and if we weren't here, this would never have happened."

"Raven, you're wrong," Robin protested, "You have no idea what I feel for you. You have no idea what I have felt for you before! You try to avoid me so much that you don't even have a clue! The only reason I was drawn to Starfire is because she has taken such an interest in me and evidently looks up to me for guidance -and it's nice to feel wanted. But I have always seen you as a kind of seductive temptress, also someone who can hold my interest and compliment me on many different levels. You fascinate me and I have wanted you from the day we met. You know, for being an empath, you sure don't know how to read me very well."

Raven's jaw just dropped and she touched her hand to her chest, "Maybe you're right. I just don't have enough talent to see what is right in front of my face." She looked down at the floor then back up at him, "You've always fascinated me as well. The way you handle things, the way you dive in headfirst with all of your emotions on your sleeve, or hold back and reserve emotional judgment. You have a kind soul, but drive enough to not let it overrule everything. It just pained me to see you teaching Starfire all of these things, even though I knew that she needed you more than I and that you had faith in me to begin with. And I've avoided you because every time I'm near you I have this odd feeling in my heart. It makes my emotions go haywire and I couldn't have that. So, I guess what I'm saying is, I've wanted to kiss you like that for the past year and a half that we've been together under the same roof. I just didn't know how to tell you."

Robin raised one eyebrow slyly, "You've been wanting to kiss me for a year and a half and now you only stop with one?" He placed an index finger under her chin and leaned toward her. He parted her lips with his, starting slow, but building up the emotion with every tantalizing moment.

They never broke from the kiss as the intensity built and a ripped and tattered piece of cloth marked with an 'R', was tossed to the ground.

* * *

_Oooo! Sexy…I wonder what they're up to now?  
__Heh heh heh…_

_Well, only one chappie left…  
__Do you want to see the ending?_

_Then this time I'm making an addendum caviat:  
__I'm going to wait to post chapter 14 until I get at least 15 -maybe even 20- reviews…_

_That can't be **too **hard now can it? (maniacally evil laugh is heard)_

_Though I do not profess to be great, I do not profess to suck either._


	14. The End Parts 1, 2, and 3

_Okay! You guys so totally stepped up to my challenge Thank you! Even Without Savvy's (cute) double review, I still received 16 reviews which, luckily for you all, fit into my "conditions" for posting this chapter (oh, you guys knew I wouldn't have left you hanging anyway, it's just that this makes it so much better!)_

_So, it seems as though you all liked the last chapter hmmm? Yeah, I told you I'd give you some Rob/Rae-age and I did! Mmm, just yummy huh? Well, yummy and touching, but what did you all expect? It was ROBIN! It's not like he was just going to say, "Hey Raven, I'm a guy, you're a chick, we've got parts that fit together, let's go for it!" I mean, come on! –hehehe…no one, I repeat, NOONE use that line on anyone, EVER!_

_MANY THANK YOU's are in order this time around! Whoo hoo! Oreos and ice cold milk for everyone! Including (but not limited to ;) ): **They call me sweetsnow **(kudos for being #1 of 16), **DarkWindingRose, Tritium, raven1777, T-birds-AM**(glad I don't really suck!), **evilsangle, Cherry Jade**(AM I that evil...:;snirk:;), **Unforseen**(nice to "see" you-hehe), **hafewolfdemon, TeenTitansObsessor**(you're never corny), **Techna, WWJDxLGLP, **and **hermie, MCD, **and all of the other fine folks who review my humble little story on **IMDb**. You Rock! Those and **DarienRavier** who was my first unofficial reviewer and helped give me confidence. And also **Patrick O'Neal **once again for helping me sift through my thoughts.  
__-But ESPECIALLY to **Cherry Jade, **who, but for one chapter, had the distinction of being my most loyal reviewer! YOU SO TOTALLY ROCK!_

_**Savvy: **I am NOT a "Speedy Killer", like you put it ;:pouts:; hehehe, no, really it was just good drama. So, you were 1/10 of the way through with submitting your "20 reviews", it's a good thing I didn't need them huh? Cause your typing fingers would have probably gone numb by 20… --__I've achieved the "sexiness" in my Rob/Rae chapter and also "kickass-iness" in my other one? Whoop! I have accomplished what I have set out on this earth to do! I may die in peace now… ;:dies:; -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- okay, I'm back. Forgot I had to actually POST this chapter…hehe oops!_

_**IoEuropa: **Bring it on? Bring it on! Oh, it is so broughten! –hehe, yeah, your stuff is more intense than fluffy, but that's okay too! –You know, you've only got like what? 40 days left? Yay you!_

_**BethanyElise:** Yes, we are off to NeverNever Land…hehehe, glad you enjoyed the reference and I hope you weren't drinking anything when you burst out laughing! -You and Savvy had the same idea, though she's the only one to actually post multiple reviews for 13, but I thank you for the support! And oh yeah, go Buffy! I've just been really into that lately for some reason…Joss's storylines just rock oh so much do they not?_

_**Aaronfors:** Of **course** I forgive you! Like I said, yours was the review I was kinda waiting for. I knew you were gone for all of those days babe, so it's okay! Interpersonal connections between my characters:;is taken aback:; Well wow. I thought all I did was just write what I want to see and just let my fingers do the typing for where the action goes. I don't really have a "long rehearsed dance" in mind, but I guess if it comes off that way, then more power to me, ay? --And thank you. Spirited, yet not entirely unimpossible techniques -at least within the realm of superherodom? Coming from you that is an overwhelming compliment. :;huge smile:; --And I inspire you as well with my grasp of the characters and yet being able to give the readers what they desire? Yayness to the millionth degree:;tackle/glomp:; You are the absolute sweetest man on the face of this good green earth. Thank you._

_**-**_

_**Disclaimer**: I don't own Teen Titans (WHAT? Come on now! I decided to just get you to the story quicker, it's as simple as that! You can't fault me for a lack of creativity here. Oh no. I have put up with way too much of your guff! If you want a piece of me, you're going to have to come over here and get it yourself! ;:readies the weapons:;)_

So, I guess this is the closing, the finale, the end to a long and arduous journey (well, not really arduous per se, but…). Well, here it is (hope you all clapped hard enough for Speedy…):

* * *

_**The End (Parts 1, 2, and 3)**_

"Okay you two, it is imperative that as soon as I start the spell you need to some how attach yourselves to Overload and hang on for one bumpy ride," Raven uttered in monotone as she watched Beast Boy's face light up in terror.

"Once again, we're supposed to do WHAT?" he flailed about as only Beast Boy can flail.

But he was interrupted by Cyborg, who grabbed a hold of his shirt and yanked Beast Boy to his side, "Shut up B. We're going home." He turned to Raven, "Hey girl, if you told me I needed to hop on one foot and cluck like a chicken, at this point I wouldn't be opposed if it would get us back." To this, Beast Girl actually turned herself into a small green chicken and started to hop up and down on one three-toed foot. After chuckling for a short second, Cyborg looked back to the expectant faces of the rest of the group, "So, let's do this thing!"

Starfire quickly gave everyone orders and there was a whole awkward moment when Beast Boy stuck his hand out palm down in an effort to start a "Go Titans" cheer, only to be snubbed by everyone but Beast Girl. After the rest of the group had left, the pair did their little cheer softly, completed a handshake that they'd made up in the interim since the battle, then both morphed into hawks to catch up with the others.

"Okay, everyone…give Raven some breathing room!" Starfire yelled out as she cut through the air above the demon holding Cyborg carefully in her arms, "BG, Cy…in 3…2…" As soon as she hit 1 the pair attacked Overload, who was now back on his rampage, with everything they had, hoping to keep him distracted long enough for Beast Boy and Cyborg to drop in on him while the spell was being cast.

Also on cue, Raven arose from the ground and a black aura began to grow around her. Her voice echoed as the darkness consumed an entire three-block radius, "Svarian Vanazith Cronoz Enveritis!" with the final word, everything became enveloped in a blinding light…but just as quickly, it ceased.

Raven fell from the sky and smacked into the ground. When she awakened, she was on her side with her cape in disarray, and found that she had acquired a splitting headache. As she looked up, she saw that the rest of her teammates were also on the ground recovering from the impact of the wake that the spell had caused. She did not, however, see any sign of Overload or the two boys who had so recently come to affect their lives. If the spell worked as she hoped, it would be only a matter of time before her life would be as it once was. She hoped that they would never forget, but she knew deep down that it was inevitable.

* * *

* * *

Starfire placed the last colored stone in the circle, which she used to mark the resting place of her now departed friend. The stone circle was a Tamaranian custom to help send a person who was close to your heart on a journey to a much better place in hopes that one day that they could come back in another form to teach others their newfound wisdom. Each colored stone meant something different for the voyager and Starfire said a small prayer over each one before she would place another. It didn't make her feel any better as she had hoped it would, but she did it anyway. Her feelings for her friend had run deep and she did not want to see him lose his "path".

As she flew back to the tower, she found that she could no longer cry. She had wept so much now, that she was out of tears. Her heart ached in pain that she feared could never be quieted. She lived at this point only to help the people who still needed her.

* * *

* * *

Robin awoke with Raven in his arms and a huge smile on his face. He stared at her beautiful sleeping form, watching her chest rise and fall with every breath. He brushed a few strands of hair off of her face and began to take in a detailed mental image of every feature. He even noticed the way that her eyelids twitched ever so slightly so that he could tell when she was dreaming…Robin knew that he had never been happier.

* * *

* * *

'_I know how to get you home.' _Raven had said, _'While researching your situation there was one spell that I knew **could** help, but I didn't speak of it before, for I feared that I would just get your hopes up because there was only a small window of time in which it was to work, but now, I think I have found the key. _

_Overload seems to have been affected in our fight by an outside force. Someone was able to inflict blows without any help or knowledge from us. If what I conjecture is true, he may be able to straddle two adjacent planes of existence because of his unique makeup, thus making it possible for him to be having one fight with us, while at the same time fighting a force in another realm. Because you recognize him without a doubt, it could be your world to which he is also attached. _

_The Greek god of time had a throng of followers who passed a book down through the generations, which graciously ended up in our possession thanks to the skills of our boy wonder - Ted here. Anyway, the spell that I have found will give you a short window of opportunity in which to fix the mistakes of the past. It will rewind time 72 hours, but since it has already been almost three days since you have arrived, you may only have a matter of minutes. So we need to enact our plan as quickly as possible.'_

'_How about now?'_ Cyborg remembered asking as the whole scenario rushed back into his mind. '"_How about now?" indeed...it's a good plan, but man are we cutting it close!' _he thought as they rushed toward Professor Chang's now fully reassembled ray gun. His back was turned as he fiddled with some smaller gadgets on the other side of the cliff, but off in the distance, the pair saw their former selves approach and they knew that within moments they had to complete their task or they would wind up stuck in an endless loop of time. Beast Boy maneuvered his body into the shape of a mouse and crawled inside the gun to gnaw on the circuitry and Cyborg quietly removed several small but vital components and placed them into a compartment in his hip.

The second Cyborg saw Robin's grappling hook chink into the ground, he whistled to Beast Boy and the little green mouse hopped into his palm. Cyborg ran at full speed and dove into some bushes just as the Starfire of 72 hours before crested the hill.

"Whew, that was close," whispered Beast Boy, now back to his old self.

"Yeah," Cyborg said after catching his breath, "Now, I guess we wait."

"Wait for what?" Beast Boy questioned.

"Well, if this works…we wait for us to disappear."

* * *

There didn't seem to be anyone around, but appearances can be deceiving as they soon found out. A loud whirring sound emanated from the machine as the barrel shifted toward them. The sound gathered intensity and a red light shifted up and down the horizontal piece as the structure heated. But as quickly as it had begun, it ended… and with a _bang_! Parts flew every which way and sparks emitted in showers. Professor Chang flew out from his seat behind the control panel and began to weep while crying out in anger at the machine as it sputtered and whirred to a complete stop, "Noooo! What happened to my precious baby! Where's the chaos! Where's the destruction! Where are my singularities!" 

As he had before, Beast Boy was obliged to ask, "Dudes, what's a singularity?"

This time it was only Raven who spoke, "My guess, is that his machine was made to conjure up some kind of black hole."

Robin stepped forward and growled slightly as he grabbed Professor Chang from the ground by his collar, "Well, the only 'black hole' he'll be seeing anytime soon is solitary confinement!"

The rest chuckled a bit at this, though none of them could truly appreciate the humor of the situation, since none knew what that machine was capable of and what it would have caused had it not been for the courage of the two boys who were currently dissipating from sight off in the bushes. "Well dude, I'd say that's a job well done," Beast Boy muttered weakly as he stuck his transparent hand up for one last high five.

"Yeah…see you on the other side B," Cyborg strained to say as he lifted his hand to reciprocate, but before the two boys could finish, they faded from existence.

* * *

As the Titans returned to the tower from their less-than-trying day, there was an air of confusion throughout the group when by all rights and means, there should have been nothing of the sort. 

Beast Boy and Cyborg did their normal "high-five" celebration, but instead of just the normal cheerfulness, it felt more complete somehow. Cyborg turned to Starfire after the celebration had died down and had a quick flash of an idea, "Hey Star, wanna come watch a movie with us?"

Starfire jumped with glee and clapped her hands, "Yes my friends! That sounds like it would be a ton of 'the fun'!"

"Well alright!" Cyborg nodded.

"What is it that we are to partake in the watching of?" Starfire questioned happily.

In response to her query, Cyborg gained a knowing look in his eye, though where it came from, he was unsure, "I was thinking that we could watch '_Daredevil_' if it was alright with you?"

"Most joyous!" Starfire agreed, but before following, she felt a pang of guilt low in her stomach. She knew that she needed to check on the members of Titans East, though she could not quite tell why, "Before joining you, would you allow me to address something that is on my mind?"

Cyborg just shrugged his shoulders, "Sure, no problem Star. BB and I'll go make the popcorn."

Starfire headed to Robin to ask how she was supposed to use the computer's phone. Robin didn't know why she would be so concerned to hear from the other Titans, but at the moment, he didn't really care to know. Once he had gotten everything set up for her and watched her face light up with glee as all five appeared on screen, he went off in search of Raven.

He found her in the stairwell heading toward her room. "Raven!" He yelled to attract her attention, but he only succeeded in startling the girl. Raven lost her grip on the stair's railing and began to fly backward violently. She called out his name as she fell and he caught her just in the nick of time on instinct. He tried to apologize as he held her dipped in his arms, "Hey, Rae, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. I know that your ankle must still be hurting you."

She looked up for just one lingering moment _knowin_g that something kind lay beneath the mask through which she gazed, but soon she gathered herself, stood and pulled her cloak in tight. Upon complete realization of what he had just said, she raised her eyebrow, "What are you talking about? My ankle is just fine."

Robin shook his head in confusion, "Sorry, I don't know where that came from. Must just be my mistake." He shrugged and turned to head back down the stairs.

Raven continued off down the hallway to her room and as she pulled open the door, she quietly asked herself, "Did he just call me Rae?"

**The End

* * *

**

_Well…  
__What do you think? Good? Bad? Ugly?  
__Did I throw you for a loop? I was hoping I did._

_Yay! Speedy's back and all is well! (You DID clap hard enough!). But what happens from there? I will leave that up to you to decide. ( I COULD write a sequel if I could ever think of one, but I kinda like it like this. You can leave whatever "happens" to your imagination)._

_(Just to let anyone who doesn't know know, **Daredevil** is a movie starring Ben Afleck and Jennifer Garner in which one of the main characters –Elektra- dressed in tight-fitting leather-like clothing and kicked lots of ass. Which is why Cyborg mentioned it because he had a flash of memory of the AU Starfire)._

_I will try to get a one shot out here soon. Probably a BB/Rae, but maybe a Rob/Star (…any suggestions as to a situation you'd like to see them in?). But I've got another long story a-brewin' in my head. I just need to know how to lay it out so that I can get it down on "paper" for you!_

_**LOVE YOU ALL! And thank you so so so much for reading!**_

_So, now, I know that there are no more chapters, but **PLEASE PLEASE review** **again **anyway? I'd LOVE to hear your reactions, and I'm asking nicely! –Or maybe I should threaten. Do you want me to threaten?_

_(once again) –Though I do not profess to be great, I do not profess to suck either. -me _


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